Ghosts of the past
by Damon Salvatore is awesome
Summary: The moment where Elena asks Alaric to compell her love for Damon is away is interupted by a girl from Damon and Stefan's past. She brings them hope for a way to bring Damon and Bonnie back. However, the path to their return is paved with friends and enemies alike from Damon's past as an unexpected obstacle to Damon and Elena's relationship appears. Larger summary inside.
1. The third Salvatore

**Summary: Canon up to the scene in 6x01 where Elena asks Alaric to compel every good memory Damon away. A Vampire from Damon and Stefan's past appears with hope to save Damon and Bonnie. However, secrets are revealed as friends and enemies from Damon's past appear as Damon shares an unexpected secret with Bonnie. Finally, their enemies unveil something which could prove to be the greatest obstacle to Damon and Elena's love story yet. This story will also be a semi-crossover with One Tree Hill. You do not need to watch the series, though I would recommend it, as I will be bringing in characters and reinventing their history to fit the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries, One Tree Hill, or anything else you may recognize.**

Whitmore College, Elena's dorm room,

September 6th

9:15 P.M.

"…I want you to compel me to forget that I ever I loved him." Elena Gilbert told the stunned Alaric Saltzman.

Confused anyone? Well then, allow me to explain. The girl with the wavy dark hair who looks like she just cried her eyes out, yeah that Elena Gilbert. The last Petrova Doppelganger (long story, don't ask) and a Vampire. The guy next to her is her Step-father, Alaric Saltzman, an Original Vampire, meaning he is the first in a line of Vampires, should he ever turn anyone.

Four months ago, Elena's boyfriend, Damon Salvatore, died along with Elena's best friend, Bonnie Bennett. Elena has made her peace with Bonnie's death; it is Damon's that she is having a hard time grieving. She apparently loves Damon so deeply, that she literally _cannot_ seem to move past it. She even had a Warlock mix up some Witchy drug that allows her to hallucinate Damon. Crazy, I know, but people do crazy things for love. It's kind of romantic if you think about. Crazy as hell people but still romantic.

Anyway, Elena is asking Alaric, who has the ability to compel, which is a form of mind control that Vampires posses, her to forget Damon so she can move on with her life. Sorry Elena, no, not on my watch.

"I know you're all depressed and everything, but don't you think erasing the memories of loving Damon is kind of insulting to his memory?"

Elena and Alaric jump before standing up and turning towards the door. Standing there leaning against the doorway was who looked like a sixteen year old girl, but Elena and Alaric had seen enough that they knew not to judge a book by its cover. She had Caucasian skin, long curly pale blonde hair and a piercing pair of bright blue eyes. That and the fact that was dressed in dark clothes with a black leather jacket made Elena and Alaric feel a strange sense of déjà vu. Elena was the first to realize why with a deep sadness: she was almost a female Damon. And it wasn't because of the clothes, well not completely. It was the same pair of eyes she had been dreaming about for years; they were _exactly_ the same eyes that Damon had.

That's right everyone, that's me.

"Three questions," Alaric began with a protective step so he shielded Elena from this girls gaze, "One, who are you, two, what do you want, and three, how do you know about Damon?"

"And why do you have Damon's eyes?" Elena asked as she peeked her head out from behind Alaric's shoulder.

"Well, question two is a bit of a long story, but I can answer your other two questions along with Elena's with the same answer: I'm Damon's sister." The girl told them.

Alaric and Elena froze as the girl closed the door and walked over to them. She held out her hand politely but Alaric and Elena, partly out of shock and partly out of skepticism, just stared at it. As if she understood, she dropped her hand, not at all looking offended or insulted.

"I'm Luna, Luna Salvatore." Luna introduced herself.

"No offense Luna, but how do we know you're who you say you are?" Alaric asked wary.

"None taken, I'd be worried if you just took my word for it," Luna assured him before turning to look at Elena, "shortly after you turned, you began your relationship with my brother, not knowing that you were sired to him. My other brother, Stefan, and your best friend Caroline, used this information to make Damon doubt your feelings for him. While he was at your family's lake house, training your brother to be a hunter, you called him every day, but he never answered. One night, he did and you told that, Sire Bond or not, it was the most real thing you ever felt…that you loved him."

"H-How do you know that?" Elena asked shakily overwhelmed by the emotions of the memory.

"Because he called me afterwards and told me….he told me was happy for the first time in years." Luna said as she smiled at Elena as Alaric and Elena relaxed.

"I'm sorry for my rudeness." Alaric apologized slightly ashamed at his treatment of his best friend's sister.

"Like I said, don't worry about it." Luna told him with grin/smirk that reminded them largely of Damon causing a pang to go through their hearts.

"So your Damon's sister huh?" Alaric asked as he searched her face and noticed that she shared many facial features with the late Salvatore.

"Well, half-sister really. Tell me, what do you about Giuseppe Salvatore?" Luna asked curiously.

"Not much, just what Stefan told us plus Damon told me the story of how he and Stefan became Vampires." Elena told her as Alaric nodded.

"Well then forget everything except that story you two," She told them to their confusion, "Stefan had a good relationship with him, and his guilt over killing him makes him ignore all the bad things that his father did, but Giuseppe was a monster. He used to beat Damon for as far back as I can remember until Damon left for the civil war; he was a first rate Bastard. About a year after Stefan was born, our mother grey tired of his coldness and found love with another man, ironically a friend of her husband. A year later I was born, the result of her affair. Five years later, as she lay on her death bed, she told Damon the truth."

"Ho-how did you find out the truth?" Elena asked quietly.

"I was away at boarding school when the news broke that my brothers and the man I believed to be my father were dead. I was devastated and continued to be until I saw Damon a year later in Paris. He explained what had happened to him and Stefan before he finally came clean about my true heritage." Luna explained.

"And Giuseppe never figured it out?" Alaric asked her surprised.

"Damon thought he may have suspected but Damon wasn't willing to investigate in case he was wrong and he ended up exposing me." Luna explained.

"So, not to be rude Luna, but what are you doing here?" Elena asked her.

Well, it's a long story, but I have a plan that I think you two are gonna want to help me with." Luna told the two other Vampires.

"And why do you think that?" Alaric asked not aggressively but curiously.

"Because the end result is the only thing that Elena really wants and something you want desperately as well." Luna told the Enhanced Original.

"And what is that?" Elena asked curiously, with a hint of fear as broken heart dared to hope.

"Because the end result is my brother, back in the land of the living." Luna told them.

**So, what do you guys think? Please review, please!**


	2. Memories of a lost love

**I do not own Vampire diaries, One Tree Hill, or anything else you may recognize.**

_California, March 17__th__, 1997_

_2:45 A.M._

_Damon was lying in the street, staring up at the starry night sky as he waited for his next meal to come along. Hearing the roar of an engine and seeing head lights out of the corner of his eye, Damon felt a smirk creep onto his face. As the head lights shinned on him and the car stopped a few feet from him, Damon heard the car door open then close as the sound of high heels clicking on the road filled the night air amidst the running car engine._

"_Oh my god, are you alright!?" a woman asked him._

_With Vampire speed and reflexes, Damon sprung to his feet and turned fast her. She was a woman in her early twenties with Caucasian skin, shoulder length, curly blonde hair, and bright green eyes that were wide in shock. She was dressed in a sexy black dress that went down to her knees with matching black high heels. Her expression was one of shock, Damon noted as all this information was studied in less than five seconds._

"_I'm fine…but you're not." Damon told her ominously as the veins under his eyes turned black and he open his mouth to reveal his fangs. _

_At the sight of his inhuman features, the woman turned around and fled towards her car. She had almost reached when a blur of movement later, she found herself pinned to the car by the left shoulder strap of her dress as Damon leaned down towards her neck. Out of desperation or fear, she punched him in the jaw, causing him to drop his hand holding her dress in shock. She ran passed him and toward the hood of her car she suddenly found herself pinned to the hood by her hands with Damon hovering over her, his face back to that of a man. _

"_You're not like any other I've killed," Damon noted with an impressed look in his eye, "You're a fighter, are ya? You've impressed me, so I'm going to let you live…but you need to forget this happened I don't want any hunters coming to town."_

_Damon let her arms go and jumped off her before blurring away from the road and the woman with blonde hair. _

Damon's eyes snapped open and he groaned. Typical, he was trapped in some otherworldly time dimension with one of his least favorite people, a _witch _no less_, _reliving the worst day of his very long lifeand now he was having those dreams again. It was official: he was trapped in Hell.

Café between Mystic Falls and Whitmore College, September 7th, 2012

8:35 A.M.

Alaric, Elena, and Caroline were sitting in a booth, Alaric sitting across from the girls. Caroline was going off on Alaric as he explained he thought that Stefan was following the leads he was sending him. Elena, tired of Caroline nagging about Stefan's apparent apathy towards everything involving his brother, clears her throat.

"Look Car, Stefan is not important right now," Elena told her blonde best friend, "we have a solid lead on Damon and Bonnie now."

"What is it?!" Caroline nearly screeches as she whips her head towards the dark haired Vampire.

"It's not a what, more of a who," Alaric told her looking up as a bell chimes as someone enters the Café, "and here she comes now."

Caroline whips her head around to look. A blonde haired girl with an eerily familiar pair of blue eyes that wore a black leather jacket who looked only sixteen had entered the café. It was like a scene from a movie, Caroline thought as nearly every head in the diner turned to look at the girl as she walked over to their booth. She seemed to possess a presence that left the room in awe, something that Caroline was not all together unfamiliar with. She had known others who had had that effect on a crowd, such as Damon and Klaus. The blonde blushed at the thought of the Original Hybrid as memories of the last time they had seen each other flashed through her mind while the unknown blonde slide in directly across from her next to Alaric.

"Luna, this is-" Elena began as she gestured to Caroline.

"Oh, oh, don't tell me," Luna suddenly cut her off as she held both hands up, studying Caroline with an intensity that was almost creepy, "Perky blonde hair and bright blue eyes, athletic body so you were probably a cheerleader at one point before turning, youthful look in your eyes so you can't be more than three years into your afterlife…you're Caroline Forbes."

"How'd you know that?" Caroline asked completely blown away.

"Damon described you perfectly. Where are my manors? I'm Luna Salvatore, Damon and Stefan's sister." Luna introduced herself as she held a hand to Caroline.

"So you have a lead that could help us get Damon and Bonnie back?" Caroline asked as she shook the older blonde's hand as Elena and Alaric looked on, as Luna had not shared what her plan to bring Damon back with them despite their begging.

"It's a long story that I would rather only tell once, so first we need to gather the troops so to speak. Elena, call your brother and tell him and the human to meet us at the Mystic Falls border. Caroline, call your wolfish ex and tell him the same thing, have him grab the witchy Wonder Twins while he's at it. We need everyone if we want Damon and Bonnie back." Luna told them.

"Is Stefan included in 'everyone'?" Caroline inquired curiously.

"Oh, don't worry about Stefan, I already sent someone to collect him," Luna said dismissively as she began looking through a menu, "You guys have been here, what's good?"

Savanna, Stefan's house

8:42 A.M.

Stefan was getting ready for his job at the Auto repair shop in his new life. It was just another day in his new life with his new house, new girlfriend, new job, and even his new dick boss. For a moment, his thoughts strayed to his brother and the crushing pain began squeezing his heart before he shook his head to help clear his mind. If he didn't think of Damon, then he wouldn't hurt, and the only way not to hurt was to move on.

Stefan walked into the kitchen and began to make breakfast for himself and Ivy when the front door opened. Stefan turned to see Ivy, his girlfriend, walk into the house with a confused expression.

"Um, I ran into a friend of yours." She told him confused.

"A friend?" Stefan repeat before reeling back as a familiar face walked in behind Ivy.

"Stefan, you are a hard man to track down." Enzo told him jovially as he walked over to the stunned Vampire.

"What are you doing here Enzo?" Stefan asked his brother's Vampire best friend.

"Well it all started a few days ago when I ran into your sister Luna, charming girl, by the way," Enzo said as he placed a hand on the stiff Vampire's shoulder, "And she sent me here because, and I quote 'someone needs to make him pull that medal rode out of his ass and force him to do something productive', unquote."

Then, before Stefan could figure out what was happening, Enzo had placed both hands on either side of Stefan's neck before twisting it and caused it to break as Ivy screamed in horror.

The otherworldly time dimension

Damon and Bonnie had just finished breakfast, pancakes, again. Bonnie thought he made them every day just to annoy her, but there another reason, one which he never planned on telling Bonnie. Damon grabbed their empty plates and dropped them in the sink before he walked over to the coat rack and grabbed his leather jacket. Damon growled as his wallet dropped out of the jacket pocket and spilling all the contents of it one to the floor.

"Damn it!" Damon cursed as he bent down to gather the contents of his wallet and Bonnie stood up to help him.

"How'd your wallet survive the explosion anyway?" Bonnie asked as she knelt down to the floor and began to help gather everything.

"Well, I guess when I died I took everything I had on me with me to The Other Side, my wallet included." Damon said as he picked up an ID.

Bonnie nodded as she picked up a photograph and turned it over to look at it. It was off a Beautiful young woman with blonde hair and green eyes. As she studied it, Damon looked over at her and froze like a deer in headlights once he realized what she was doing. Bonnie looked at him, a questioning look in her eyes that made him know what she was going to say before she had said it.

"She's beautiful, who is she?" The Bennett Witch asked.

_California, March 7__th__, 1997_

_12:23 P.M._

_Damon was in a nice little restaurant called Karen's Café. It was a homey little place with great food, and service that matched as well as being friendly. Damon was at the counter paying the owner, Karen, when everyone heard a commotion from outside. Damon turned his head to watch through the windows as the women from last night had a screaming matching with a Caucasian man with a shaved head. Noticing how most of the customers turned back to their food with little thought, Damon turned to Karen with a raised eyebrow._

"_The woman out there? Her name is Peyton Sawyer, and she used to date my son, Lucas in high school." Karen explained to him._

"_You have a son?" Damon asked surprised._

"_Had a son, he died of a heart attack on the night of his State championship victory." Karen told him in a soft voice that portrayed her grief._

"_I'm sorry for your loss Ms. Roe." Damon told her surprisingly genuine, even without humanity._

"_It's been a few years, and the pain gets easier to live with as time passes." Karen said as she accepted his money._

"_Preaching to the choir, Ms. Roe." Damon said in a soft voice as memories of his mother flashed before his eyes._

"_Anyway, I'd don't think she has ever gotten over Lucas's death. The man she's arguing with is her boyfriend, Julian Baker, and he doesn't exactly treat her right, but she just up with it." Karen told Damon sounding worried and distressed._

"_Maybe she just needs a push in the right direction." Damon told her ominously._

_Damon turned away and walked with purpose towards the glass door. Exiting the café, Damon walked across the street towards the arguing couple. Realizing someone was approaching, Peyton and Julian stopped arguing and turned to look at Damon._

"_Can I help you?" Julian sneered._

"_Is there a problem here, ma'am?" Damon asked Peyton completely ignoring Julian._

"_Hey, can I help you?" Julian growled getting in Damon's face._

"_Get out of my face dick," Damon shoved him away before turning back to Peyton, "is this guy bothering you?"_

"_I don't have to take this from you, come on babe." Julian ordered as he grabbed Peyton's arm and began dragging her away._

"_No Julian!" Peyton yanked her arm out of her reach, a hand shaped bruise forming on her arm, "he's right, you are bothering me! I've had enough, we're done, you gigantic asshole!"_

_Damon heard everyone in Karen's stop and stare at the scene outside as Julian glared at Peyton with something close to hate. However, even Damon was surprised by Julian's next action. Peyton fell to the ground hard, her cheek red from the impact as Julian stood over her, staring at her as though he didn't realize what he had just done. Snarling, Damon punched Julian with all his human strength before picking him off the ground by his shirt and slamming his back against the side of the store in front of them._

"_Listen to me Dick face," Damon snarled at the frightened human, "You and Peyton are done. So from this day forward, you are not to look at her, touch her, talk to or about her, not even to think about her understand? Good, now get the hell out of town and don't come back!"_

_Damon let go as his compulsion set it and Julian walked off with a dazed look on his face. Damon turned around and looked down at Peyton who was staring up at him with a stunned look on her face. Damon realized she had heard him compel Julian. As he heard the door to Karen's open, he shot her a look that said 'later'. Peyton nodded as Karen and others surround her._

'She was just someone that I used to know." Damon told Bonnie as he took the photo from her.

"You do realize that's what guys usually say about their ex's when they're still pinning for them." Bonnie reminded him.

"Trust me Bonnie, I'm not pinning for her." Damon assured her as he pocketed his wallet and stood up.

"You didn't deny that she's your ex." Bonnie noted with a raised eyebrow as she also stood up.

"She died okay!" Damon snapped causing her to reel back in shock, "She's just another person in the long list of people I cared about that have died! Happy now?!"

Without giving her a chance to answer, Damon stormed out of the kitchen as Bonnie feels guilty that she pushed him.

Enzo's car, destination unknown

10:07 A.M.

Stefan groaned as he came to. He glanced down to see that his hands were restrained by rope tying his wrists to the arm rest. The burning in his hands and his inability to break through the rope allowing him to deduce that it was Vervained. He glanced over to the driver's side to see Enzo calmly driving.

"Where are you taking me and what did you do to Ivy?" Stefan growled.

"I'm taking you to meet your sister and your friends. As for your girl, check the back seat." Enzo told him unconcerned.

Stefan turns his head to see Ivy seating behind him. His relief that she is unharmed is short lived when he relives that she is staring at him with a look she had never given him before. Like she had never seen him before with a hint of betrayal coloring her features.

"You know." Stefan said as a statement not a question.

"That you're a Vampire. Yeah, Enzo told me everything. At first I didn't believe him…until he stabbed a knife through his hand and it healed in seconds. How you could not you not tell me?" Ivy demanded sounding pissed.

"He doesn't tell a lot of people a lot of things," Enzo interrupted glaring at Stefan with hate, "What kind of coward gives up on his own brother?"

"Brother?" Ivy asks sounding completely confused.

"Ah, so you haven't told her about Damon in the two months that you two have known each other. Well, allow me to explain…"

Mystic Falls border

10:23 A.M.

Luna, Elena, Alaric, Jeremy, Matt, and Caroline are all waiting at the Mystic Falls for Luke to arrive with the Parker twins. Jeremy and Matt were trying to be discreet as they studied Luna, seeing the family resemblance between her and Damon. There was barely a trace of Stefan on her face. Feeling there gazes on her, Luna turned to them with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry it's just…you really resemble Damon and it's kind of weirding us out." Matt apologized.

"Well I'll take that as a compliment. Besides, it's better than resembling _Stefan_." Luna spoke her youngest brother's name as though it was a curse.

"So…you're not a fan of Stefan's?" Alaric asked with certainty as everyone looked at her shock at the amount of venom towards her brother.

"What's there to be a fan about? I see from your faces that your part of the crowd that thinks Stefan is the next Vampire messiah, well let me just say that you don't him at all if you think that," Luna told them shocking them to the core, "when Damon and I met up a year after he turned, he told me that he promised Stefan an eternity of misery. I remember asking myself 'what could Stefan have done to have inspired such hate from Damon?' but after a decade or so, I started to understand. Stefan was no longer a brother to either of us, brothers don't turn their back on their siblings over and over again the way Stefan did to Damon and me every time we reach out to him over the decades. Brothers don't force their brother to turn into a Vampire then spent their life blaming that brother for everything that goes wrong in their life, but most importantly, does the name Augustine mean anything to you?"

"You know about that?" Jeremy Elena asked stunned as not even Stefan had known.

"You'd be surprised by how open Damon can be with someone when the person he's trying to be open with hasn't been corrupted by the influence of his self0rigtious, hypocritical, manipulative, lying little brother," Luna told them with a sneer, "anyway, Damon and I were gonna go on a trip to Italy when he got Joseph's telegram. He was gonna go see Joseph and come back for our trip, but he obviously never showed up. Once I realized Damon was missing, I went to Stefan and begged him to help me find Damon, you know what he said? 'Damon is a monster that doesn't deserve your worry; he's probably off somewhere murdering children.'"

Everyone stared at her, shocked at her revelations. Stefan had always made it seem like he had just never realized Damon was missing however, if what Luna said was true Stefan had not cared enough to investigate.

"Yeah that's right, Stefan left Damon to be tortured by those psychopaths. And if you children think I'm gonna let Stefan leave Damon wherever he is again, he has another thing coming. He's gonna help us get Damon and Bonnie back, whether he likes it or not." Luna told them with an air of finality.

Any response they may have had was interrupted by a cat pulling. It pulled to a stop in front of the border and Tyler, Liv, and Luke got out. Once Luke was out of the car, Luna gave him an unreadable look. Before anyone could realize what was happening, Luna had Luke suspended above the ground by his throat and as he gasped for breath, Luna glared at him in a way that made everyone realize that she was more Damon's sister than Stefan's.

"Put my brother down or I will make you." Liv hissed at the Vampire.

"He's your brother huh? And you love him very much?" Luna inquired never taking her hate filled eyes of Luke.

"Yes, what of it?" Liv demanded.

"Well, because of him, my brother that _I _love very much was stuck on The Other Side as it went down. So I think you'll be able to understand my rage." Luna said with a blank expression.

"…you're Damon and Stefan's sister." Liv realized.

"Stefan hasn't been a brother to me in decades, but yeah." Luna confirmed her identity.

"Look, I'm sorry about Damon, but there's nothing any of us can do to bring him back." Liv pleaded as Luke's face started to turn blue.

"Actually, there is." Luna said as she dropped Luke to the ground and he gasped for breath.

"What are you talking about?" Liv asked as she, Tyler, Jeremy, and Matt looked at her with a mix of confusion, hope, and shock.

"I'll admit that it's not a complete plan, but a friend of a friend gave me a good place to start. And I find it fitting that since Damon was only The Other Side because of you and your brother, that you two should help us get him and Bonnie back." Luna said as she turned to Liv with a predatory grin.

"You're not giving us a choice are you?" Liv knew the answer even as she asked.

"Powerful, pretty, and smart, I see why you like her Tyler." Luna revealed causing the triggered Werewolf to look away, blushing as he avoided his friends shocked eyes.

"For the record, I would have agreed without the manhandling." Luke's voice was raspy as he messaged his throat.

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" Luna scoffed.

"Look, I get it, you're angry about Damon. But Liv was gonna die if didn't stop the spell, so I did what I had to do, no matter the cost." Luke snapped.

"I'll admit I probably would have done the same thing if it was Damon in Liv's position. But let's make one thing clear," Luna said as she took a threatening step towards the gulping Warlock, "you and I are not friends, and my brother is god knows where, maybe suffering, because of you. So if you even look at me the wrong way, I will rip your throat out. Am I clear?"

"Crystal." Luke said as he gulped nervously.

"Good. Now everyone grab a car and follow me." Luna said as she walked towards the car she had arrived in.

"Who put her in charge?" Jeremy muttered.

"That display of badassness." Alaric said as he, Elena, and Jeremy followed Luna.

Otherworldly time dimension

Damon and Bonnie were in a store, gathering supplies to take back to this world's version of the Salvatore boarding house. Damon had not spoken a word to Bonnie since he had snapped at her earlier. Bonnie was trying to work up the nerve to apologize to him as the gathered supplies. As Damon picked a box of cereal, Bonnie cleared her throat. Damon turned to her and arched an eyebrow.

"Look, Damon I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you about the picture when it was none of my business." Bonnie apologized as Damon sighed.

"I probably shouldn't have snapped at you, but…I think we both know by now that I don't react to hurt well." Damon told her.

"If you want…you can tell me about her." Bonnie said cautiously.

"And why would I want to talk about her?" Damon challenged with a raised eyebrow.

"Because you were in love with her." Bonnie said confidently.

"What makes you think that?" Damon asked with a blank expression giving away nothing of his feelings.

"The look in your eyes as you looked at the photograph. It's the same look you have when you look at Elena." Bonnie told him.

"Alright, alright, fair enough," Damon chuckled at her inquisitiveness, "her name was Peyton Sawyer, I met her in 1997, and she was something else."

_California, March 9__th__, 1997_

_12:09 P.M._

"_So, you're a Vampire, you and your brother were turned during the civil war by your shared vampire lover, gross by the way, and we met on the road a few nights ago but you wiped my memory of that?" Peyton asked Damon not load enough to be over heard as they sat at a table in Karen's Café._

"_Yes, yes, a little, and yes." Damon answered all her questions in order._

"…_that's kind of cool, minus the 'shared lover' part." Peyton said with a grin as took a drink of her coffee._

"_You are taking this surprisingly well." Damon noted casually._

"_You defended me from Julian." Peyton reminded him._

"_When I grew up, it was expected that you treat a woman right. He wasn't doing that for you." Damon said as if that explained everything._

"_Thank you. So…are you gonna stick town for a while?" Peyton asked sheepishly._

"_Maybe, if I have a reason to." Damon said as he smirked at her._

"_Well then, Damon Salvatore, would you like to go out with me tonight?" Peyton asked him coyly. _

"_I'd be delight to go on a date with you Peyton Sawyer." Damon told her wiggling his eyebrows as the door open and the bell chimed._

"_Well, looks like the high school found a new face to chase after. A new girl just walked in and all the high school are looking at her._

"_Well, I feel sorry for all the guys she has to…" Damon trailed off as he turned to look at the girl and his eyes locked with the wide identical ones of his sister Luna._

"So you were just beginning a relationship with Peyton when you ran into your sister. I didn't even know you had a sister." Bonnie said surprised as they walked out of the store with grocery bags in their hands.

"Well Luna is a bit of a touchy subject between Stefan and me." Damon told her.

"She not dead is she?" Bonnie asked cautiously.

"No, I actually talked her a month before we got trapped here. It's just…when we were kids, Luna liked to follow me around like a lost puppy and tell me I was the best big brother in the world. Stefan, on the other hand…" Damon trailed off unnecessarily.

"They didn't get along so well." Bonnie filled in the blanks.

"They didn't see eye to eye on a lot of thing and it only got worse once we all became Vampires," Damon admitted to her, "she and I met up a year after I turn and when I told her what happened, she took my side over Stefan's. Now, I regret letting my issues with Stefan damage their relationship." Damon confessed.

Luna's car, destination unknown

11:31 A.M.

Luna was driving with Elena in the passenger seat and Alaric and Jeremy in the back. Luke had opted to take a ride withMatt and Caroline in the human's truck while Liv had chosen to ride with Tyler. There was an awkward silence in the car, as nobody was quite sure what to say to Luna.

"So…you know Damon better than anyone else right?" Jeremy asked curiously.

"I'd like to think so." Luna said not taking her eyes of the road.

"Then can you settle an argument some of us have been having: exactly how many women _has_ Damon been with?" Jeremy asked her unabashed.

"Jeremy, that is my boyfriend?!" Elena shouted at him aghast.

"You knew what you were getting into." Jeremy dismissed her.

"I lost count about halfway through the twenties," Luna told him ignoring Elena, "if you were asking about how many women he loved, that I could tell you."

"We already know that, he spent a hundred and forty five years obsessed with getting Katherine out of a tomb she wasn't even in then he fell in love with my sister." Jeremy dismissed.

"Well, yes and no," Luna said causing all of them to look at her confused, "it's true that Damon waited for the chance to get that heartless she-devil out of the tomb. While he waited, he put this iron wall around his heart, so that no one except for me could get close to him. For over a century, no one could get passed that wall and into his heart…until one day, fifteen years ago, someone did."

_California, March 9__th__, 1997_

_2:08 P.M._

"…_and that's what happened and why I never showed up for our trip." Damon told Luna as they walked down the streets. _

"_Good god." Luna said horrified._

"_I didn't want you to see me like I was when I got out, that's why I never tried to find you afterwards." Damon told her._

"_For someone who turned off his humanity, you seem awfully…human, so to speak." Luna noted as she studied him._

"_Something about this town…I don't know it just brings out this side of me that I can't explain." Damon said genially confused about what had gotten in to him._

_The two Salvatores stopped out a building titled 'Red Bedroom Records' and Damon held the door open. Wondering why they were stopping here, Luna walked inside and Damon followed her. Hearing someone singing in the back, Damon led Luna into the back room. It looked like a recording studio as behind a glass window, a group of five people were performing a song. In front of the window, sitting at the keyboard was a curly blonde haired woman with green eyes. Realizing she had guests, the woman turned to look at them and lit up. _

"'_Kay guys, take five." She told the band before practically skipping over to Damon and Luna, "Hey, you didn't have to come see me at work!"_

"_I wanted to." Damon told her with a genuine smile._

_Looking back and forth as Damon and this woman stared at each other, Luna felt a smirk creep onto her face. She thinks she just realized why Damon's humanity was coming to the surface. She cleared her throat and the two snapped out of there trance._

"_Where are my manors? Peyton, this is my sister Luna, Luna, this is my…friend Peyton." Damon said as he looked at Peyton in a way that you would not look at someone who was just a friend. _

"Luna, Luna!" Elena was shaking the older Vampire by the shoulder.

"What?" Luna asked confused and slightly dazed.

"You okay, you got real quite there for a minute?" Alaric asked concerned.

"Yeah, just lost in memories." Luna said quietly as she continued driving.

"So, Damon was in love with someone other than Katherine before Elena?" Jeremy asked surprised.

"She was a brief flicker of light among many years of darkness." Luna said in a soft voice.

"So what happened, she obviously didn't come with Damon to Mystic Falls?" Alaric asked not sure he wanted to know.

"She died," Luna told them stunning them, "Damon was really broken up about it; he even turned off his emotions again because it hurt too much. Anyway, we're here."

The car pulled to a stop in front of a large house. As they got out, the others pulled up behind them and got out of their respective cars. As the nine of them stared up at the house, another car pulled to the house. They turned to look as it turned off and everyone but Luna was stunned as the driver stepped out.

"Enzo?!" Caroline shouted in surprise.

"I told you I'd see you around." Enzo reminded her smirking as he walked around to the passenger side and took out a retractable knife.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing?" Caroline moved to stop him when

Luna blurred in front of her to intercept the Blonde.

"Easy there blondie, he's just cutting someone loose." Luna assured her.

Confused, the others turned to watch as Enzo opened the car and leaned halfway inside. The Vampires heard him cut something before Enzo came back out, throwing, to everyone's shock, Stefan to the ground. Stefan hissed as the Vervain burns on his wrists healed and everyone turned to Luna stunned.

"I told you I sent someone to collect him." Luna reminded them non ashamed in the least as the right passenger door opened.

Everyone looked over to see a young woman with long dark hair and dark eyes close the car door. The woman looked around nervously at all the people around her as everyone stared at her confused.

"Who's she?" Elena asked Luna.

"I have no idea." Luna told just as confused as the rest of them.

"Oh, that's ivy," Enzo said as Stefan grimaced knowing what was coming, "She's Stefan's new girlfriend that he's been playing house with instead of looking for Damon the last _two months_."

Two months. The words seemed to hang in the air for a moment as everyone digested their meaning of Enzo's words before everyone bristled in anger, none more so than Elena and Luna. Elena seethed, she had been forced to consider forgetting her love for Damon because Stefan had told her there was no longer any hope and he hadn't even been looking?! A hiss broke everyone out of their angry musings. They turned towards the source of the hiss and gasped.

Luna was the perfect picture of rage, her jaw parted as her Vampire features appeared, hissing angrily at Stefan. She appeared to vanish into thin air before Stefan cried out in pain as she drove a stake through his stomach. Ivy gasped in shock while everyone else stared in shock as Luna let Stefan fall to the ground.

"Hurts, doesn't it big brother?" Luna asked stoically as Stefan groaned in pain, "good. You know, you have never been a brother to me, even when we were kids and you continued to condemn the one who was. Well, now you're going to help me bring him back, and I'm not asking!"

Otherworldly Time Dimension

"It's probably a bad sign that we're getting used to being the only people in this place." Damon said as he and Bonnie walked through the boarding house doors.

"I don't even know long we've been here." Bonnie admitted.

"Four months, three day, and two hours, but who's counting?" Damon asked sarcastically.

"Well," Bonnie smirked as she stared to say a witty reply when she spotted something, "uh…Damon was that VHS tape on the coffee table earlier?"

Startled, Damon turned towards the coffee table. There was a black VHS tape with a yellow post it note on top of it that _certainly_ hadn't been there before. Setting the groceries he had been holding on the floor, Damon cautiously approached the coffee table and took the note off.

"'Watch the tape, I guarantee you'll be glad you did.'" Damon read.

"So…do we watch it?" Bonnie asked him.

"Might as well, otherwise we just go back to getting on each other's nerves." Damon said as he picked up the tape.

Damon walked over to the VCR and popped the tape in. Damon stepped back as he and Bonnie watched the tape begin. A girl was laughing as the video opened with a familiar face to Damon.

"Luna?" He gasped.

"I'm not even sure I'm doing this right!" Luna laughed on the tape.

"You're doing it fine, just do what Peyton told you!" Damon's own voice said from the background.

Still laughing, Luna pointed the camera away from her face. She was in Red Bedroom Records and Peyton was laughing as, behind the window Damon held a guitar as he stood in front of a microphone.

"Ready when you are sexy." Peyton spoke seductively.

"Okay. A one, a two, and a…"

The screen was filled with grey lines as footage of something else was being shown. Someone was sitting in a chair, only the back of the chair visible as they held out there black gloved and over the side of chairs arm.

"It's been a long time Damon." A man's voice spoke and Damon stiffened.

"Damon?" Bonnie asked confused.

"It can't be." Damon said almost to himself.

"Fifteen years ago, you started this war…now it's time we ended it." The man swung around so Damon and Bonnie could see his face.

"Julian." Damon spoke the name like a curse.

Unspecified location

In an underground lair, men in cloaks walked towards an iron door. One man opened the door and walked inside. In chains, Peyton Sawyer glared at every one of them.

**That's right, Peyton is still alive. Don't worry Delena fans; this is not the end of Delena, as I am also a die-hard Delena fan. However, Peyton being alive is only half the problem for them, the other half will present itself soon enough. Please review people! **


	3. Friends and enemies

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries, One Tree Hill, or anything else you may recognize. I do own Luna Salvatore.**

**For any One tree Hill fans, I'm sorry if you like Julian, but he's not gonna come off looking too good in this story. I'm sorry, but I needed a villain and I decided on Julian.**

**As for those of you who are curious about the ships of the story, it will mainly be Damon/Elena and Damon/Peyton with Background Bonnie/Jeremy and Tyler/Liv with eventual Luna/Enzo and Alaric/Brooke. I don't currently have any plans for Caroline or Stefan in the romance department, though there will be some slight Stefan/Ivy, but not much.**

**Anyway, you're not here to listen to me babble, you're here to read my story, so here you go.**

Otherworldly Time Dimension

"Who is this Julian guy and why is he talking about war?" Bonnie asked confused and slightly afraid.

"It's complicated Bonnie." Damon said in a monotone as he took out the tape.

"Everything about your past is complicated, so spill." Bonnie insisted as she put her hands on her hips.

"…when I first came to town, Julian was Peyton's boyfriend I guess you could say," Damon began to explain as Bonnie listed attentively, "but their relationship was dysfunctional. The first time I met him, he hit Peyton after she dumped him, so I compelled him to leave town and not even think of Peyton again. I thought that would be the last I'd see of him…until I saw him a week later."

"Why didn't the compulsion work?" Bonnie asked confused.

"Because he's a Warlock," Damon told her, "a Warlock who is an impressive actor. After I saw him again, he made it his mission to make my life a living hell. And…"

"What is it?" Bonnie asked as she noticed his face.

"I'm sure you've noticed my dislike of Witches." Damon began in a soft voice.

"Yes." Bonnie said slowly not understanding.

"Well, that's because one took away the most important person in my life once." Damon told her with healed but remembered pain coloring his voice.

It took only a moment for Bonnie to connect the dots. Julian's mission to make Damon's life a living hell, Julian being a Warlock, Damon acting like the man's name was a curse, and Peyton dying. It all came together in her mind as she realized what Damon was saying.

"Julian killed Peyton." Bonnie realized.

"Right in front of me." Damon told her.

"Then how is he alive, I'd imagine that you would've killed him." Bonnie said knowing what Damon had been like back then.

"That's what's freaking me out…I did." Damon told her with a trace of anger in his voice.

House on the edge of a town an hour from Mystic Falls, September 7th

11:45 A.M.

Stefan groaned as he pulled the last splinter out of his stomach. Ivy watched him with concern as everyone else glared at him, none of them too happy with the Salvatore. Hearing the clicking of high heels, everyone turned to see a woman enter the room. She had long dark brown hair and brown eye with Caucasian skin. She appeared to be in her early to mid-thirties and was dressed in fashion designer clothes. She took a look around at all the people before turning to look at Luna with a slight smirk on her face.

"When you said you were gathering allies, I didn't realize you were bringing so many to my house." The woman said amused.

"We're gonna need all of them," Luna said before turning to the group, "Brooke, this is Elena Gilbert, her brother Jeremy, Caroline Forbes, Alaric Saltzman, Tyler Lockwood, Matt Donavan, Liv and Luke Parker, My brother Stefan, his girlfriend Ivy and you already know Enzo. Everyone, this is Brooke Davis."

"_The_ Brooke Davis?" Liv asked as she and Luke looked star struck as they stared at Brooke in awe.

"You two know her?" Tyler asked confused.

"No, but we know of her." Luke said softly still staring at Brooke.

"She's the most powerful Witch of modern era. Brooke is the closest thing Witch society has to a queen." Liv said continuing toing stare at Brooke in residential awe.

"Oh stop it." Brooke said waving her hand like it was no big deal.

"So, you two say you have a plan to Damon and Bonnie, care to share it?" Alaric requested.

"It's not a complete plan, but we do have one." Brooke admitted.

"Well, why don't you start at the beginning?" Liv suggested.

"It all started the night after The Other Side exploded," Luna began and everyone turned to her listening intently, "I was visited in a dream by the spirit of a Witch called Sheila Bennett."

"Bonnie's grams." Caroline interjected.

"Would you like to tell the story Caroline?" Luna asked irritably.

"Oh, no sorry." Caroline dipped her head as a blush colored her cheeks.

"Anyway, she told me what had happened, but that there was hope. She didn't have much time so she couldn't tell me much, but that I had to figure out what had happened to them on my own first. Brooke and I have spent the last four months researching and, last week, we finally found out what had happened to my brother and Bonnie."

"Well don't keep us in suspense, out with it already." Elena begged as everyone looked at the two women silently pleading for them to reveal what they knew.

"Damon and Bonnie are in a loophole dimension, that's what Luna and I have been calling it." Brooke told them.

"And that is…" Enzo trailed off expectantly.

"Basically, Damon and Bonnie are trapped in a dimension where they are reliving the same day over and over again." Luna explained.

"So how do we get them out?" Jeremy asked eager to see his beloved and sort of friend.

"The night we figured all this out, Sheila visited me in my dreams," Brooke told them, "She told me that we need to seek help from two brothers who know Damon's connection to someone named Tatia and that Stefan would know who she was talking about."

Everyone turned to the afore mentioned Salvatore and were surprised by his expression. It was a mix of solemn and dread, like he would now be forced to do something he didn't want to do. As he turned to Caroline and asked her a question, most of them understand why.

"Caroline, when was the last time you talked to Klaus?"

Loophole dimension

Damon led Bonnie into a room in the Boarding house that she had never been in before. It was rather modest with only a desk, a bed, and a bookcase. She watched as Damon walked over and, to her confusion and surprise, pushed it out of the way to reveal a hidden room.

"Joseph Salvatore decided to keep a secret weapons vault in case any Vampires ever decided to make Mystic Falls their hunting ground." Damon explained as he flipped a switch and the hidden room was flooded with light.

Bonnie followed Damon into the room and looked around in awe. The room was filled with guns of all kind, arterially, riffles, hand guns, machine guns, ect. She watched as Damon pulled a bracelet that reminded her eerily of Katherine's day light bracelet off the top of a shelf. Damon walked over to Bonnie and held it out to her.

"Won't Elena get jealous?" Bonnie asked wittily as she took the bracelet.

"It's not that kind of bracelet, it's filled with a plant called Tappa di Magia. It's Italian for 'Magic Stopper' and it has the ability to protect you from all magic." Damon explained.

"Why are you giving it to me?" Bonnie asked not understanding.

"Because you and I are about to go on a witch hunt, or rather a Warlock hunt." Damon said with a smirk.

"You want me to help you kill Julian." Bonnie realized.

"Yeah kind of." Damon said as if it was no big deal.

"I'm not gonna help you kill someone Damon!" Bonnie told him aghast.

"He needs to die Bonnie, before he kills someone else I care about." Damon said in a voice thick with determination.

"You changed, maybe he can to." Bonnie insisted.

"You think Julian can change," Damon laughed bitterly at her; "You cannot change psychopaths Bonnie, you can't reason with them, or redeem them. You can only lock them up or kill them."

"Maybe you're just letting your anger at Julian cloud your judgment." Bonnie challenged him.

"Really? Well then, let me show you who Julian really is." Damon told her ominously.

Before she could figure out what he was talking about, Damon had placed his right hand on Bonnie's cheek and forced her to look into his eyes. Feeling a sharp pain go through her head, Bonnie closed her eyes before opening them. When she did, she saw that Damon was on longer in front of her and that she was no longer in the Salvatore boarding house. She was on the back of a patio of a large house next to a pool. At a table not far from where she was standing, six people sat, some she recognized and some she didn't.

Damon sat at one end of the table, holding hands with Peyton who sat next to him. Luna sat to Damon's left while a woman around Peyton's age sat to Peyton's right. At the other end of the table sat a couple around twenty or twenty one, a man with sky blue eyes and short black hair and a woman with shoulder length dark brown hair and eyes. The six of them were laughing as the unnamed man told a joke that Bonnie could not hear. Frowning, Bonnie moved closer to the table.

"That…was the worst joke I have ever heard." Damon smirked at the man.

"Then why did you all laugh if it was so bad?" The man demanded.

"Nathan, honey, we were laughing out of pity." His girlfriend, Bonnie assumed, said as she laid a hand on his shoulder looking like she was delivering terrible news.

As everyone burst out laughing Nathan's expense, Bonnie noticed Damon stopped suddenly. His shoulders tensed as he stood up, looking around as though he sensed some sort of threat. As everyone noticed Damon's behavior, they turned to look at him strangely when suddenly, Damon dropped to his knees as he clutched his head, screaming in pain.

"Damon!" Peyton and Luna were suddenly by his side, looking at him worriedly as the others stood up from table.

Out of nowhere, Luna and the long haired woman suddenly rose up into the air and were slammed against the side of the house as though were being pinned against the house by an invisible force. A laugh filled the air as Bonnie and everyone else turned to see Julian walking over, grinning evilly. Damon, still clutching his head, lifted his head and glared at him hatefully. Peyton stood up and stared Julian down, no trace of fear visible in her.

"Julian, stop hurting my husband and let Luna and Brooke go." Peyton ordered firmly.

"Certainly, but not before I do what I came here to do." Julian said with a sadistic grin.

Julian muttered an incantation and then something happened that even Bonnie, who was an experienced Witch, was stunned by. A vortex seemed to open up behind Julian and it started to suck everyone inside. Julian raised a hand and jerked it towards the Vortex and suddenly Peyton, to everyone's horror, was flying towards the vortex.

"No!" Damon seemed to overpower Julian's spell and blurred after Peyton.

Damon grabbed Peyton's hand and attempted to pull her back, but the vacuum of the vortex was to strong. It seemed it even took great effort on Damon's part to stay on the ground. Nathan and his girlfriend were even forced to cling to the patio umbrella as the vortex's powerful vacuum started to suck everything nearby inside.

"Damon, you to let me go or we'll both be sucked in!" Peyton shouted over the vacuum.

"I'm not letting you go, I love you!" Damon shouted back at her.

"I love you too…which is why I'm telling you to let me go!" Peyton retorted.

While they were talking, Julian, who seemed unaffected by the power of the vacuum, had appeared a few feet behind Damon. Julian made the same motion he had made earlier that sent Peyton hurtling towards the vortex. Bonnie watched it horror and shock as Damon was yanked away from Peyton and Peyton screamed as she sucked into the vortex, which closed as she was sucked in. Damon fell to his knees as Luna and Brooke slide down the wall, no longer being pinned. Everyone but Damon stood up, staring in shock as they comprehended what had happened.

"Where the hell did you send her Julian?" Brooke hissed.

"I trust you're familiar with the black hole spell?" Julian smirked as Brooke paled, "good. For those of you who don't know, I basically sent your beloved Peyton on a one a way trip to the edge of the universe. One way through and no way back, she'll be dead in about an hour."

As Julian let out a maniacal laugh, Bonnie saw what Damon had been trying to tell her. The psychotic light in his eye that even Damon and Klaus had never possessed, the gall to laugh in other people's pain and misery, and the ability to laugh at other people's horror. Some people, like Julian, were simply beyond redemption. Suddenly, a bright light consumed the area and Bonnie was back with Damon as he lowered his hand away from her.

"Do you get it yet Bonnie?" Damon asked darkly.

"Yeah…he's an irredeemable psychopath who's also a very powerful Warlock…so where do we start?" Bonnie asked as she slipped on the bracelet.

"Grab a gun, and then I'll take you out front for target practice," Damon said with a solemn expression, "if you don't have magic, then I need you to have my back when I kill that bastard again."

New Orleans

2:17 P.M.

The group was walking down a street as they looked for someone. When Caroline had called Klaus, he had told her that they better come to him once she had explained what was going on. He was vague, but told her she should meet a guy named Marcel on the other side of the river that would take them to Klaus. Klaus had even arranged a flight for them.

"So, who is this Tatia that Sheila is talking about?" Brooke asked Stefan.

"Tatia was the Doppelganger whose blood Esther used to turn Klaus and the rest of her children into Vampires," Stefan told them, "according to Klaus, he and Elijah loved her the same way Damon and I loved Katherine and Elena. Tatia couldn't choose between them, so Klaus and Elijah became estranged. When Klaus triggered his Werewolf gene, Esther killed Tatia and used her blood to bind Klaus's Werewolf side."

"how can Damon have a connection with someone who's been dead for a thousand years?" Elena asked confused.

"That's what I've been wondering for the past few hours." Stefan admitted.

"it is confusing."

The group whirled around to see a man standing behind them. He was a man in his late twenties, of at least appeared to be of African American descent with a shaved head and brown eyes. Everyone took a step back except for Tyler as the two locked eyes.

"Tyler didn't expect to see you again." The man greeted.

"Marcel." Tyler greeted.

"You're Marcel?" Luna asked for clarification.

"Yeah, come on Klaus is waiting." Marcel told them.

Marcel led them to a tower that over looked the quarter across the river. Marcel led everyone inside, except Tyler, who had chosen to stay outside as Klaus was more likely to cooperate if he wasn't present, ivy, who too terrified to meet the most feared Original in existence, and Enzo who volunteered to keep watch over them. Marcel took them to the top floor where Klaus was waiting. Klaus stood with his back to them, looking out at the quarter with a compensative look on his face.

"it's funny, by looking at it over here, you may never know it is a town filled with deceit, danger, and blood," Klaus said as he turned to face, "I see you have added some new faces to your group."

"Klaus, this is my sister Luna, Brooke Davis, and Liv and Luke Parker." Stefan introduced pointing to each one as he said there name.

"Charmed, I'm sure." Klaus said with a halfhearted smirk.

"Klaus…please, what is my brother and Tatia's connection?" Luna pleaded with the Original.

Klaus turned to her and his gaze softened. She reminded him a bit of Rebekah.

"It is a rather complicated story." Klaus told her tiredly.

"And it's only chance to get Damon and Bonnie back. Please Klaus, tell us." Elena pleaded desperation and a hint of hysteria filling her voice.

"…when I last talked to you about Tatia; I did not tell you everything Stefan," Klaus began in a soft voice, "I do not believe that Tatia ever truly loved Elijah or myself, not truly. Her heart had already been stolen by the father of her child, a man named Kaleb Roransson. He was murdered by Tatia's father once he found out that they were sneaking behind his back to see each other. After the death of her lover, Tatia was inconsolable for many weeks until she found out that she was carrying his child. However, even this small reminder of her lover was taken from her by her father, as he gave the child to another family to raise."

"This is interesting and ever thing, but what does this have to do with Damon?" Jeremy asked impatiently.

Klaus, instead of answering, walked over to a table across the room. He picked up an old sketchbook and began flipping through the pages. Once he found what he was looking for, he walked over to Stefan.

"This a picture I once sketch of Kaleb and…well, see for yourself." Klaus said as he handed the sketchbook to Stefan.

Frowning, Stefan took the sketched only to toss it away like it had burned his hand. It landed on the ground right side up so everyone could see why he had tossed it to the ground. It was Damon…well, Damon with long hair.

"H-how is this possible, is Damon a Doppelganger?" Alaric asked stuttering in shock.

"No, not long after Tatia died, Kaleb and Tatia's mothers begged Ayana, an ancestor of Bonnie's, to bring their children back, so Ayana performed a spell after great reluctance." Klaus explained.

"But it didn't work." Caroline assumed.

"Or maybe it did. A few centuries after my siblings and I turned, I encountered a human who looked remarkably like Kaleb. While they were searching for the cure, Katerina informed Elijah that the father of her child looked exactly like Damon. When he told me that, it occurred to me what had happened. The Doppelganger ripple effect and the spell collided with each other and every time a new Doppelganger was born, it would have the essence of Tatia's soul and all her memories trapped behind her subconscious. Meanwhile, Kaleb would be reincarnated every time a Doppelganger was born; at least until Damon was turned by a selfish version of Tatia, but the universe could not have that, so it created a balance." Klaus explained.

"Me." Elena realized.

"Yes, it was no accident that Stefan saved you on that bridge; it was the universe seeing that you and Damon would meet again, or meet the first time, whichever way you choose to see it. The point is, you and Damon were fated to meet and fall in love Elena, you two are destined to be together." Klaus told her.

"But one thing still doesn't make sense: why does Bonnie grandmother want us to know this?" Liv asked confused.

"Perhaps it is all connected." Klaus suggested.

"Perhaps what is connected?" Luna asked not getting it.

"That spell that reincarnates Kaleb every century or two was created by a Bennett Witch. Perhaps this Loophole Dimension-that is what you lot have been calling it, isn't it? - was also created by a Bennett Witch." Klaus suggested.

Loophole Dimension

"Wow, we've been out here for hours and you're still a lousy shot." Damon said as he looked at all the bullets lodged in the trees and the three lined up beer cans.

"Well I'm sorry if I've never shot a gun or killed someone!" Bonnie snapped as she reloaded her shot gun.

"And you think that Stefan forcing me to transition was the first time I killed someone? Man, you really are naïve," Damon told her causing her to look at him confused, "I fought in the Civil War, did you think I just jumped in a ditch and waited for the battles to end?"

"How'd live with yourself? I mean, I know back then you weren't so murder happy with anyone who was a threat to you or the people you love, so how'd you do it?" Bonnie asked him genuinely wanting to know.

"The same way I took all blame for anything Stefan and Luna did when we were kids so that they would never feel the wrath of our father. I did what I had to do in order to protect Stefan from going, if I went, then he wouldn't have to," Damon told her firmly, "but if you're looking for motivation, try this: Julian killed the love just to hurt me fifteen years ago. And you know that old saying: if it aint broke, don't fix it."

"…you think he'll go after Elena if he gets out of here." Bonnie said as a statement not a question.

"I don't think, I know he will and the only way we're gonna stop him is if we kill him. So are you ready to get serious about this?" Damon demanded of her.

Instead of answering, Bonnie aimed and fired. The bullet hit the beer can in the center and knocked it on the ground. Damon smirked, obviously satisfied.

Plane, en route to Mystic Falls

3:41 P.M.

Elena sat at the window seat, staring out the window compensating all that she had learned with Alaric and Jeremy sat next to her. Caroline found herself in an awkward position as she sat between Stefan and Enzo who were ignoring each other while Tyler sat between the Parker twins. Finally, Luna, Brooke, and Ivy all sat at the same isle. Brooke was sleep, but when she opened her eyes, she not sitting on a plane next to Luna and Ivy. She was standing in a huge void of nothingness which was really freaking her out.

"Do not be afraid child." A voice spoke up behind her and Brooke whirled around.

"Sheila." Brooke relaxed as she realized who it was.

"You have done well Brooke." Sheila told her.

"Why was it necessary for us to learn about Tatia and Kaleb?" Brooke asked the Bennett not understanding.

"That was more for Elena's benefit because, once Damon returns, he will learn that will bring him, Luna, and you much joy, but bring her pain." Sheila explained.

"What?" Brooke asked wondering what could do that.

"You will learn soon enough, but for now you must listen to me. Klaus was right when he said a Bennett Witch created the Dimension where Damon and Bonnie are trapped…I know because I created it." Sheila admitted shamefully.

"Why would you do that?" Brooke asked confused.

"Because, fifteen years ago a man named Julian came to me and blackmailed me into creating it by threatening Bonnie. I'm sorry, but I couldn't risk my granddaughter's life." Sheila apologized.

"It's okay, I would've done the same thing." Brooke assured her.

"But there's more: he forced me to cast on him so that when he died, he would go to this dimension instead of the Other Side." Sheila revealed.

"Wait, Julian is with Damon and Bonnie over there?!" Brooke asked in horror.

"Yes, but I know how you can get them out." Sheila assured her.

"How?" Brooke asked desperately.

"A Bennett Witch cast the spell, so a Bennett Witch is needed to save Damon and Bonnie. You must find the last living Bennett Witch, a distant relative of mine named Lucy." Sheila explained.

"Where can I find her?" Brooke asked desperately.

"Go home Brooke." Sheila said vaguely before Brooke woke up with a gasp.

**So, what do you guys think? Is it just Peyton's return that will cause Elena pain, or is something else? Will Lucy be able to help them save Damon and Bonnie? Why am I asking you all these questions? Please leave a review, for they help inspire me. Later people!**


	4. The bond between brother and sister

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries, One Tree Hill, or anything else you recognize.**

**Remember that second part of the problem to Damon and Elena's relationship I mentioned? Well by the end of this chapter you will know it. It's kind of a big plot twist and I'm not sure what you guys will think of it, so you could you guys please leave your thoughts on it in a review? I would really appreciate it?**

_Salvatore Mansion, June 17__th__, 1853_

_11:53 P.M._

_Five year old Luna Salvatore sniffed as she wiped the tear trails from her cheeks. It had been only a week since her mama had died and things a home had not gotten better. Stefan rarely talked to her anymore and her father was rarely home now. When he was, he smelled bad and talked funny and yelled a lot. The only person who seemed to be trying to act normal was Damon. He was still nice to her and Stefan and tried to get them to eat and tried to take care of them since their father wouldn't._

_Hearing the knob of her door turning, Luna tensed as she turned towards the door, her heart rapidly. Her door slowly opened and she relaxed as Damon walked in. He closed the door and walked over and sat on the foot of her bed, holding something Luna couldn't make out. He smiled at her, his blue eyes, identical to her own, appearing like tiny moons in the darkness._

"_How are you feeling Luna?" Damn asked softly._

"_I miss mama." Luna said as a tear fell from her left eye._

"_I miss her to," the thirteen, almost fourteen, year old said as he took Luna's hand in his, "I brought you something."_

_Damon then handed her what he had been holding. Luna saw that it was a brown teddy bear with a blue coat over the majority of its body save its legs with two drown buttons for eyes and a black button for a nose. She looked up at Damon confused._

"_Mama gave that to me when I was your age. She told me that whenever I would feel frightened or sad, I could just grab the bear and it would make all that sadness and fear go away…and now, I am giving the bear to so it can do for you what it did for me." Damon explained to her._

_Luna hugged the bear to her chest; oddly she did feel a lot better. Damon flashed her a comforting smile before he started to get off the bed. Not wanting him to go, Luna reached out and grabbed his hand. Damon turned to her, a confused look on his face._

"_Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Luna asked in a small voice._

_Damon sat down on the edge of her bed again and held her hand tightly as he smiled at her._

"_I will always protect you little sister, always."_

Luna's eyes snapped open, tears falling from her eyes. She was on a plane ride to California and was sitting in between Brooke and Elena. She must have fallen asleep at some point during the five hour plane ride. Elena and Brooke were looking at her concerned.

"Luna, are you okay?" Brooke asked worried for her friend.

"My bear," Luna said softly which only confused the two women, "I dreamt of the time he gave me my bear."

Elena was extremely confused, but Brooke seemed to understand and pulled the crying Vampire into a hug.

Loophole dimension

Damon and Bonnie sat in the living room, going over a map of Mystic Falls. Damon had spent the rest of yesterday and most of the morning training Bonnie on how to use the shotgun until he was satisfied and believed she could be a decent partner for their mission. Damon took out a black marker, uncapped it, and drew a circle around the Mystic Falls movie theater.

"That's where we'll find him." Damon told her.

"How do you know?" Bonnie asked confused.

"Because he's always been obsessed with movie. Before I came to town, he was studying on how to be a director and movie producer but he dropped out when he decided to make my life a living hell." Damon told her.

"Why does he hate you so much?" Bonnie asked him curiously.

"That's a question I have been asking myself for a long time," Damon admitted, "I don't why he hates me with such a strong passion. I did some digging into his past, thinking I may have hurt or killed someone he cared about but nothing. It's as much a mystery to me as it is to you Witchy."

"So he really is just a psychopath." Bonnie said as a statement not a question.

"Yep, so grab your gun and let's go kill a Warlock." Damon ordered as he stood up.

California, Tree Hill airport, September 8th

12: 12 P.M.

Brooke and Luna lead the others out of the terminal. Elena, Stefan, Jeremy, Alaric, Enzo, Caroline, Matt, Ivy, Tyler, and the Parker twins looked around as Luna and Brooke smiled at the familiar surroundings. Luna took a deep breath before smiling a content smile.

"I haven't been back here since…well, since Damon left." Luna admitted.

"I haven't come back in a few years either…it's good to be home." Brooke said with a radiant smile.

"You said it." Luna smiled.

"You think of this place as home?" Enzo voiced his surprise.

"Asides from Mystic Falls, Tree is the only Damon and I felt we could call home in all our years of travel." Luna told him.

"So, I hate to break up this feel fest, but you said we had a ride?" Tyler asked Brooke.

"Yes and there he is!" Brooke announced with a smile.

Everyone followed her gaze to a Caucasian man around Brooke's age with very short black hair and sky blue eyes. Luna squealed before, at human speed, running over to the man and throwing her arms around him in a bear hug. The man smiled as he returned the hug as the rest of Luna's group approached them.

"It so good to see you Nate!" Luna as she and the man, Nate, released each other.

"It's good to see you to ya little blonde haired freak. And Brooke, good to see ya!" Nate said as he hugged the Witch.

"So, you're our ride?" Jeremy asked impatiently.

"That I am, though I don't remember meeting any of you." Nate said as he took in the eleven people in front of him.

"Where are my manners? Everyone, this is Nathan Scott, one of oldest and closest friends. Nate, this is everyone." Brooke introduced the man.

"Well, I'm sure you can introduce yourselves as we go pick up you bags so we can get out of here." Nathan said as he began to lead them away.

Loophole Dimension

Damon and Bonnie pull up to the movie theater and Damon parks and turns the car off. Damon turns to Bonnie with a solemn look and she nods as she grips her shotgun tightly. The duo get out of the car and walk into the movie theater. It appears to be deserted but Damon and Bonnie are not so sure. They exchanged a quick glance before they walked further into the theater.

Tree Hill

1:07 P.M.

"So you're the infamous Stefan…Damon and Luna were right, you do look like you brood too much." Nathan said causing everyone to laugh except Stefan.

Everyone was in a limbo on their way to Nathan's house. The Limbo was easily affordable because Nathan was a semi-retired NBA basketball player for the Charleston chiefs. After having been introduced to everyone, Nathan had taken a shine to everyone but Stefan, which the Vampire figured was because he knew a little about his relationships with Damon and Luna.

"So, on to more serious matters, did you find Lucy?" Brooke asked Nathan.

"It wasn't that hard really; she works at Red Bedroom Records. All Haley has to do is invite her over for tea and stall her until we get there." Nathan told them.

As the limbo pulled to a stop due to a stop light, Luna glanced out the window and saw a church.

_Tree Hill church, October 10__th__, 1997_

_9:23 A.M._

_Luna was standing outside the church with Nathan's wife, Haley, as Damon pulled up in his Comoro. He got of his car in a tux looking like he was on top of the world. Luna hated that what she was about to say would ruin his good mood. He walked over to them, a bounce in his step and a beaming smile on his face. _

"_You're in a good mood." Haley noticed. _

"_What's not to be in a good mood about? I'm getting married to one of the most beautiful women in the world, I have my sister here with me and I'm surrounded by great friends. My life is great for the first time since my backstabbing little brother forced me to turn into a Vampire." Damon said his happy tone only ruined by his scowl at his mention of his brother._

"_Well, I'm sorry to ruin your good mood, but we have a slight problem." Haley told him regretfully._

"_Oh god, is it Julian? Did he hurt anyone?" Damon asked a hard edge entering his voice as his scowl deepened._

"_No, nothing that. It's just, well…" Haley babbled not quite sure how to tell him._

"_The Minister fell through." Luna cut to the chase._

"_Don't scare me like that." Damon said as his scowl disappeared yet he still looked unhappy. _

"_Wait, I just remembered my sister Quinn got married by a friend who got ordained on the internet in like thirty seconds." Haley appeared to remember just now._

"_Is that even legal?" Damon asked skeptical._

"_A Vampire who is marrying a girl over a century his junior is worried about the law?" Luna snickered but was ignored._

"_Yeah, anyone who gets ordained can perform a marriage ceremony." Haley assured him._

"_So who are you gonna pick?" Luna asked curiously. _

"_Luna, I have a confession to make," Damon told her solemnly, "Nate called me on the phone on the way and told me about the Minister."_

"_And I already told Nathan and Damon about my sister's wedding." Haley continued._

"_And I just ordained you." Nathan said as he walked out of the church carrying a piece of paper._

"_Wait what?!" Luna as grabbed the paper from him to see that it was a certification that she could perform a marriage ceremony. _

"_Come on, you're my sister, no one know s me better than you, and look at that, you're ordained," Damon said as she gestured towards the paper, "remember, if anyone asks, you're eighteen and visiting from collage…Minister Salvatore."_

_Damon then patted Luna on her shoulder before walking inside the church with Nathan and Haley leaving his stunned sister to absorb what had just happened. _

The Limbo began to move again bringing Luna back to the present. She noticed everyone was staring at her worriedly.

"You were staring at the church for a few minutes, you alright sweetheart?" Enzo asked sounding genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine. Damon and lived here for eight months, we made a lot of good memories here." Luna explained.

"And you'll be able to make a lot more once we get him back." Nathan assured her.

"You really think Lucy will be able to help us?" Elena asked him a hopeful desperation entering her eyes and voice.

"If she can't then we'll keep trying until we find a way to bring Damon home." Nathan said in a tone that left no room for argument.

"So you and Damon are close then?" Alaric asked curiously.

"I love him like a brother; in fact he's the god father to my son." Nathan revealed.

"You actually trust Damon with your son?" Caroline asked skeptical.

"Damon told us about you, and you don't anything about Damon, so keep your arrogant judgments to yourself blonde," Nathan told her before looking out the window, "looks like we're here."

The limbo pulled to a stop and everyone unbuckled. As they exited the limbo, everyone, excluding Nathan, stared at the house. Well, more like mansion. It was huge, like one of those houses you'd see millionaires live in. hearing the trunk open, they snapped out of their daze and moved to get their bags. Once they had all had their luggage, Nathan led them to the front door and opened it with a key. As he led them through the doorway, they looked around the premise impressed.

"Nice place, much bigger than your last one." Luna said as she glanced around.

"Aunt Luna!"

Smiling, Luna set her bag down on the floor as a boy of about seven or eight ran into the room. He had sandy blonde hair and Nathan's sky blue eyes. Luna knelt down and opened her arms which the boy flew into as he wrapped his arms around her neck.

"What about me?" Brooke said as she teasingly pouted.

"I saw you at Christmas Aunt Brooke; I haven't seen Aunt Luna since three summers ago." The boy told her.

"It's good to see you to Jamie," Luna said as she leaned back and studied him after they broke the hug, "wow you've grown!"

"Did you find a way to bring Uncle Damon back from his vacation?" Jamie asked innocently.

"Not yet, that's actually why we're here, chasing down a clue." Luna explained to Jamie as best she could.

"Uncle Damon? Vacation?" Stefan whispered to Nathan.

"Even when he was in Mystic Falls, Damon was involved with Jamie's life. And you want to explain to my seven year old son that his beloved Vampire uncle has taken a more permanent vacation when there's a good chance we can get him back?" Nathan demanded quietly so Jamie would hear

"Jamie knows?" Alaric asked loudly as everyone turned to the boy shocked.

"Uncle Damon and Aunt Luna are Vampires." Jamie explained as though none of them knew this.

"I have a very smart son who realized that, after four years, his Aunt Luna still looked exactly the same." Nathan said with a smirk.

"Our little genius." Luna said brightly as she affectionately ruffled the boy's hair causing him to laugh.

At that moment, two women walked into the room. One was a Caucasian woman with shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes most assumed was Jamie's mother. The other was a beautiful dark skinned woman with long black hair. As Luna stood up, the dark skinned woman stepped in shock at seeing who was there.

"Lucy, we need your help. Bonnie needs your help." Elena pleaded empathetically.

Loophole Dimension

Damon and Bonnie were walking past theaters 7 and 8 when they heard something. It sounded like theater 11 was playing a movie, but this place should be deserted. No movies should be playing. The Vampire and Witch exchange a glance before they walk over to theater 11. Damon opened the door and they walked inside to the top row and turned to watch what appeared to be a movie playing.

It was playing the inside of a church. There appeared to be a wedding ceremony going on, two rows of people dressed in fancy clothes sat waiting with violinists on either side of the rows. But it was the people at the front of the church that drew Damon and Bonnie's attention. Standing behind the altar, looking as though she was acting as the Minister, was Luna. The best man was Nathan and the groom was, in fact, Damon himself. With a feeling like he had been dosed in cold water, Damon suddenly realized what he was watching.

As if in a trace he watched as, on the screen, Brooke walked down the aisle before taking her place as maid of honor. The violinists began to the wedding march as the bride began to walk down the aisle. As the Damon on the screen took the bride's hand, Damon still thought that Peyton looked like a beautiful bride. As Screen-Damon and Peyton faced each other with joined hands, Bonnie placed a comforting hand on Damon's shoulder.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered her today to join these two in holy matrimony," Luna began the ceremony; "we are here to celebrate the love between these two people, Damon Salvatore and Peyton Sawyer. That doesn't mean there will not be struggles; there will be bad times as well as good, but the point of marriage is that you will have someone by your side as you go through everything that life throws at you. Now, the bride and groom have prepared their own vows so, Damon, Peyton?"

"For a long time, I just existed in this crazy world…until I met you," Movie-Damon admitted as Peyton's eyes began to water, "my life was dull and lifeless until you came into my life, lighting up my world the way a comet lights up the sky. If you'll have me, I will make it so you will never doubt that you have someone by your side as you go through life, you will never have to feel like you can't do something, you will never have to feel alone again, Peyton Sawyer."

"Turn it off Julian." Damon said thickly not wanting to watch anymore.

"Until I met you, I never thought I could let go of my first love, Lucas Scott," Peyton began her vows with a watery smile, "you brought me back to life, you showed how to love again, that I could love someone the way I had loved Lucas, that I could love you. You showed me that I was missing out on living my life, that I was letting the world pass me by. I will never let you forget how much you are loved, Damon Salvatore."

"I said turn it off Julian!" Damon said louder his voice showing the toll watching this was having on him.

"By the power invested in me I pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." Luna announced with a large grin.

"I SAID TURN IT OFF!" Damon suddenly roared causing Bonnie to jump startled.

Damon pulled over to one of the seats and ripped it of the floor before he chucked it at the screen. It went through the screen a second after Movie-Damon and Peyton shared their first kiss as husband and wife. The chair hit the kissing couple and went through, leaving a big hole in the middle of the screen as the movie still tried to play. Suddenly, the movie stopped and the lights came on, confusing Damon and Bonnie. Hearing clapping coming from behind them, they turned around and tensed.

Standing behind the seats, clapping was Julian. He looked exactly as Damon remembered him: shaved head, psychotic light in his eyes, sadistic grin, and dorky clothes. Julian stopped clapping lowered his hands, turning his attention to the damaged screen as his grin became a smirk.

"Such an emotional reaction…you really did love her didn't you?" Julian asked rhetorically.

"Julian." Damon said the name like it was the most foul thin to have ever left his lips.

"After all these years, we finally meet again. Damon Salvatore, my old foe." Julian flashed his smirk at the seething Vampire.

Scott residence

1:38 P.M.

"So why are we lighting these candles again?" Tyler asked Lucy as he, Matt, and Nathan lit multiple candles.

Once they had explained the situation, Lucy had eagerly agreed to help. All of them had relocated to the kitchen and Lucy had Haley and Nathan gather every candle in the house. Once they had, she wanted them to be lit.

"Because I need them to amplify the spell. It's a draining spell, too draining for one Witch. That's why Luke and Liv are going to help me with it." Lucy explained.

"Since Damon's in this mess because of me, I'll be glad to help." Luke promised while Liv looked more hesitate.

"Every time I help a Vampire, I usually end up fatally wounded." Liv said dryly.

"The spell won't kill us, we're just opening a portal between our dimension and the one Damon and Bonnie are trapped in. the hard part will be up to those of you who jump inside the portal." Lucy revealed.

"Yeah, we've got Julian to deal with." Luna muttered bitterly.

"What did this Julian guy do that makes you all hate him so much?" Stefan asked curiously as he looked between Luna, Brooke, Nathan, and Halley.

"He killed Damon's wife, my best friend." Brooke told him.

"Wait, Damon was married?" Elena asked surprised.

"Remember that girl I told you about that Damon loved that died." Luna reminded her brother's beloved.

"Oh, right." Elena said feeling embarrassed that she hadn't put it together.

"Anyway, I still need something for the spell," Lucy said bringing their attention back to her, "I have two extra Witches; I have a Witch going through the portal, what I need is someone with an emotional and physical connection to Damon."

"Emotional and physical?" Alaric asked confused.

"Someone who Damon cares about and is cared for in return that has a blood connection to him. It could a relative or someone he turned, it doesn't matter which." Lucy explained.

"Then Luna's your girl." Brooke said as she pushed Luna forward.

"You're sure?" Lucy asked.

"Damon is the one who turned into a Vampire and she is the person he cares about most." Brooke insisted.

"Okay then, Lucy said as she took the Vampire's hand, "Luna, I need you to think of your happiest memory with Damon."

_London, September 25, 1865_

_11:21 A.M._

_Luna walked down the busy street on her way to class. It had been a hard year for her, her entire family had perished in a tragic incident a year ago and she had struggled to cope. Her friends had helped as best they could, but nothing could truly heal the loss of so many loved one's at once. She glanced across the street and froze. The one who caused her to freeze saw her looking and turned around, starting to walk away._

_Luna unfroze and started to run after him. She ran after him, ignoring the people she bumped into. He was quicker than she remembered, but she ran as fast as she could with her corset constricting her movement. The chase took several turns until the two of them found themselves in an ally with only one way out. He looked for a way out as Luna blocked his path, realizing he could escape while caught her breath._

"_Please..Huh…I know it's you…huh…don't run, I need you." Luna pleaded as she caught her breath. _

_He sighed before he turned around. The two siblings stored at each other for the first time in over a year. After several moment of simply staring at each other for several moments before Luna let out a sob and flew into Damon's arms. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as he stroked her hair soothingly as he buried his face in her hair._

"_I missed you to little sister." Damon told her softly._

"Okay, I've got what I need," Lucy said as she dropped Luna's hand, "Luke, Liv, repeated after me."

Lucy began chanting which The Parker twins began to repeat. After a moment, a Vortex opened and it was similar to one that had opened over a decade earlier, causing sadness to go through Luna, Brooke, Nathan, and Haley. After a moment of hesitation to mentally prepare, Luna, Brooke, Elena, Alaric, Enzo, Stefan, Jeremy, and Caroline all jumped through the portal. It felt like the falling at a hundred miles per hour before they all landed on the ground of a road. Groaning, they all stood up when most of them realized something strange.

"Are-Are we in Mystic Falls?!" Caroline asked shocked.

"No, we're in the Loophole Dimension's version of Mystic Falls," Brooke told her as everyone looked at her, "notice how there is no one people around, no cars moving, no sound at all."

As if to mock her, the Vampires heard something coming from the movie theater. The Vampires moved towards the theatre as Jeremy and Brooke followed them. The group entered the building just to a man collide with the snack bar, demolishing the soda machine, before landing on the ground with a pained grunt. As those from Mystic Falls and Enzo stared at him stunned, Luna and Brooke glared at him hatefully.

"Julian." Luna hissed.

"Wait, that's Julian?" Alaric asked expecting someone more freighting from their descriptions of him.

"Were you expecting a monster with horns and red eyes buddy?"

Everyone turned to see Damon walking over with Bonnie trailing behind him, holding a shotgun of all things. At the sight of him, Julian stood up as if to run, but Damon blurred over and lifted off the ground by his neck, Julian gagging for air.

"I'm gonna enjoy killing you again." Damon said in dark voice.

"If you kill me, you'll never know the truth." Julian rasped out.

"What truth?" Damon inquired.

"The truth about Peyton." Julian gasped.

"…start talking." Damon demanded.

"Let me go first." Julian bargained.

"talk or I will separate your head from your neck." Damon growled as his fingers digging into Julian's neck.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk," gasped and Damon's fingers stopped digging into his neck, "the day I died, things did not happen as they appeared. I did not send Peyton through a black hole, I sent her through a time portal, fourteen years into the future. Eight months ago, she finally arrived."

"you must really be desperate to try and make me believe such a laughable story," Damon sneered as he began squeezing Julian's throat, "besides, why would you take Peyton to the future?"

"The prophecy of light and darkness." Julian gasped.

Elena and her friends had no idea what he was talking about, but Damon seemed to. Damon dropped him, looking like he had just been told he could become human again. Luna also seemed quite stunned at the news, but it was Brooke who looked to be the most stunned. She stepped back, looking like she about to throw up. She ran her hands through her hair, looking like it was the only thing keeping her sane.

"That's impossible, that prophecy is just a story that parents tell their children at night so they can have hope, so they can have innocence!" Brooke denied.

"That's what I thought until my coven leader had one of our Warlocks snatch a hair of Peyton and test it," Julian said as he stood up before flashing Damon a mock friendly smile, "congratulations Damon, you're going to be a father."

Before of them could really respond the heard gun shots and Damon was shot with three tranquilizers. Damon gasped as before he fell to the floor. Luna lunged for Julian but he made a motion with his hands and Luna's neck was suddenly snapped. Man sized vortexes opened up and a small army of people in cloaks came out of them, surrounding everyone. Around the corner, men carrying guns walked out.

"did you really think that I hadn't anticipated that Damon would try and kill me? I just needed to stall until backup arrived." Julian said with a smirk

Scott residence

1:53 P.M.

Lucy, Liv, and Luke were chanting suddenly the candles blew out. Lucy gasped; horrified as her fellow Witches, Matt, Tyler, and the Scott family looked at her worried.

"I lost the connection." Lucy said stunned.

"What do you mean you lost the connection!?" Matt demanded.

"I mean I set up a psychic connection with Brooke so I'd when to open up the portal again and now I can't feel it anymore." Lucy snapped.

"What does that mean?" Haley asked concerned for her friends.

"It means that either Brooke is dead or, more likely, another Witch has severed the connection." Lucy explained.

_London, October 31__st__, 1864_

_10:42 P.M._

_Luna was walking home alone from a Halloween ball. Normally, Damon would have been with her, but they had gotten into an argument. Luna has spent the last month all but begging him to turn her into a Vampire, but Damon refuses. He had been forced into this and he didn't want his sister to have anything to do with this life._

_As she was close to her apartment, she noticed bearded man walking up to her. Something about him put her on edge and she tensed. The man pulled out a knife and pointed it at her, causing her eyes to go wide with fear. The opened his mouth to speak, but a flurry of movement and snapping sound later, he fell to the ground dead. Damon looked at her smugly._

"_Do you know see why you must not walk home alone?" Damon asked her._

"_I could have protected myself if you'd just turn me." Luna argued. _

"_We have had this conversation, my decision stands." Damon said firmly as he turned walk back to the apartment._

"_I'm gonna die anyway," Luna told him causing to stop, "maybe not today, but I will die."_

"_Luna-"Damon began but she carried on._

"_I know why you are doing this, but you are not Stefan and I am not you! Stefan took away your choice, now I am giving you one. You can either turn me so we can be brother and sister for all eternity, or you leave and never come back; let me live my human life." Luna said firmly._

_Damon seemed to struggle with it for a moment before he came to a decision. He turned around and walked back towards her. Damon's eyes turned red and the veins under his eyes turned black before he bit his wrists. He offered it to her and willingly drank from him before he placed his free hand on the side of her head and his wounded one under her chin and it all went black._

Luna awoke in a cell. She sat up and saw that Stefan, Elena, Enzo, Alaric, Caroline, and Brooke were also in the same cell. It was rather cramped, as it was a cell not designed to hold so many.

"Welcome sweetheart." Enzo greeted.

"Where are we?" Luna demanded.

"you're in a place that you can't harm my plans." Julian told her and Luna jumped.

"Where's Damon?" Luna demanded.

"I thought it was high time he and Peyton had a reunion." Julian said and everyone gasped as they realized what he had done.

In another part of the prison, Damon groaned. His vision blurry from all the Vervain, he saw someone else with him. As his vision cleared, he saw who it was. Her hair was longer, messier, and a darker blonde and she was heavily pregnant, but it was her. Julian was telling the truth for once, about everything.

"Peyton." Damon said her name like a prayer.

Back with Julian and his prisoners, Luna grabbed the bars s her Vampire visage appeared.

"You monster!" She growled.

"A Vampire is calling me a monster?" Julian chuckled at the irony.

"If Vampires are monsters, then you are the devil Julian." Brooke snarled.

"Perhaps, but let me ask you this: Luna, you know Damon best. With all the Vervain in his system, how long do you think he can fight off his instincts before he kills his wife and unborn child?"

**So, what do you think of it? Sorry for the cliff hanger, leave any thoughts or comments you may have in a review. **


	5. Miracle birth

**I do not own Vampire Diaries, One Tree Hill, or anything else you may recognize.**

**For the record, I do not know anything about pregnancies and I am not a doctor, so if anything I put in here is unlikely to happen, I am sorry.**

Unspecified location, September 8th

2:09 P.M.

"So what is this prophecy of light and darkness that makes everyone think that this kid is Damon's?" Enzo asked Brooke curiously.

"It's a prophecy that has been told and retold by my coven for centuries," Brooke told him as everyone listened intently, "according to the prophecy, a child will be born to a creature light and a creature of darkness against all odds. The child will bring peace between Vampires and Witches, should it live."

"And if it dies?" Alaric asked hesitantly.

"If it dies, then our two races will be plunged into a bloody war that will end with eradication of all Vampires and Witches. Add that with the fact that Julian plans to have Damon be the one to kill his own child before its born and you have a genius plan to turn Vampires and Witches against one another for good." Brooke told them sounding reluctantly impressed.

"Then why aren't we doing anything about it?" Enzo asked eager to save his best friend from more internal torment.

"Because of what's over there." Luna reminded him as she pointed to the cell across from them.

The cell across from them was far more luxurious, resembling a small apartment rather than a prison cell. Sitting in a chair, with her arms and legs tied to the ones of the chair was Bonnie, struggling to break free. Above her was a giant metal crate suspended above her by a black cord. A Warlock wearing a cloak had a remote with a red button than, when pushed, would detach the cord holding the crate in place from the wall. Should they manage to save Bonnie, Jeremy was in the cell next to her with a black cord attacked to the crate wrapped around his neck gently enough so it wouldn't choke him, but tightly enough that it would take his head off or ram him through the wall when the crate fell.

"So what, we just sit here and do nothing?" Elena asked worried about Jeremy, Bonnie, and Damon.

"No Elena, what we do is stay calm and think of a plan to save them as well as Damon and Peyton." Brooke told her quietly so the Warlock wouldn't hear them.

In another part of the underground lair, Damon stared at his wife for the first time in almost fifteen years. Her hair was messy and unwashed, longer and a darker shade of blonde than he remembered, almost brown. Asides from the obviousness of not having bathed recently, she seems to have been taken care of. She seemed properly fed and unharmed, minus the chains on her wrists. She smiled her beaming smile and her eyes lit up in a way that always made his undead heart skip a beat.

"I never thought I'd see you again." Peyton told him tears falling from her eyes.

"Ditto Wifey." Damon said softly.

"How long has it been since I've been here?" Peyton inquired as Julian and his lackeys had never told her and she had lost count of the days.

"According to Julian, you've been here eight months…but fifteen years have passed for me." Damon said as slowly and compassionately as he could.

"What, how is that possible?!" Peyton asked completely stunned.

"The vortex Julian sent you through was a time portal. Julian told us he sent you through a black hole and that you were dead, he only told me the truth a little while ago before he Vervained me and brought me here." Damon explained.

"Why are you just lying on the floor by the door?" Peyton asked confused as to why he hadn't come over to her.

"Because Julian's cronies shot me up with three tranquilizers full of Vervain," Damon explained and she began to understand, "if I do manage to get close to you, I don't trust that I won't lose control of my instincts."

Their conversation was interrupted as the metal door opened with a screeching sound. The Salvatores looked over to see Julian walk through the door and into their cell. He stopped in front of Damon and smirked at him as Damon noticed Julian's change in wardrobe. Julian was hearing a black cloak with the hood down but was still wearing his regular clothes underneath.

"What do you want now Julian?" Damon growled at his arch nemesis.

"You think Stefan and Elena will be coming rescue you don't you?" Julian asked to Damon's surprise, "well, let me show you just how loyal your brother and girlfriend have been while you been…shall we say on a vacation?"

Julian raised his right hand and made a gesture as though he was palming something. Feeling a pain in his head greater than when a Witch attacks him, Damon grabs his head as he lets out an agonized cry.

He saw Stefan in a house, holding his cell phone to his ear, clearly talking to someone.

"I need you to give me hope." Damon heard Elena's voice come through the phone.

"Damon's gone, you need to say goodbye top him." Stefan said almost emotionlessly.

The scene changes to Elena's dorm room. Elena and Alaric are sitting on Elena's on bed as Elena holds something Damon recognizes as his own shirt.

"I want you to compel me to forget that I ever loved him." Elena told Alaric.

The pain stopped and Damon opened his eyes, his heart broken from what he had seen. Julian, seeing the heart broken look in Damon's eyes, felt his smirk widen. He knelt down so he could look Damon in his eyes before continuing Damon's torment.

"Are you really that surprised? Think about it, what have those two done since you came back to Mystic Falls other than hurt you and stab you in the back? Stefan didn't even notice that you were locked up in Augustine for five years; he even turned Luna away when she begged him to help her find you. And how many times has Elena broken your heart, how many times has she chosen your brother over you, she said she was gonna fight for you, but she never did. Face it; neither of them really loves you, despite any claims to the contrary," Julian taunted before frowning as Damon let out a chuckle, "something funny?"

"I see what you're trying to do, you're trying to break me so I'll give in to you," Damon smirked as Julian cursed, "Well let me tell you, even if I did break, I would never kill my own child. I'm not that much a monster…I'm not you Julian."

"We shall see," Julian said with a twisted smile that reminded Damon of Dr. Whitmore, "I am going tear everything you care about away from you, destroy those who choose to follow you, corrupt those you love. Then, once you have lost everyone and everything you value, I will drive a stake through your heart. Luna, Brooke, Enzo, Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, Nathan, Haley, Jamie, Jeremy, I will see them all dead at my feet and I will even find a way to make Alaric suffer. Peyton will only be the first, I promise you this Damon."

Scott residence

2:17 P.M.

"So what do we do now?" Nathan demanded.

He was pacing back and forth as Haley tried to shield their son from the severity of the situation. Matt and Tyler sat worried for their friend as Lucy and the Parkers try to think of anything that could help them in this dire situation. Amidst it all, Ivy watches feeling like an outsider in this strange world of the supernatural.

"I have an idea, but we'll need a personal item from either Damon or Bonnie." Lucy said firmly.

"Why them?" Luke asked confused.

"Because if I'm right, then Julian had backup. The only way he could have had back up is if he found a way to bring others to that Dimension." Lucy explained.

"Which means that they probably took everyone back here, to our dimension." Liv realized.

"So does anyone have something of Damon's or Bonnie's on them?" Lucy asked the room at large.

"No, but I know where we can find one." Haley told her.

Julian's lair

2:23 P.M.

"_Bonnie." _A woman's voice whispered in the Bennett Witch's ear.

Startled, Bonnie looked around the cell. There was no one there but her. With a feeling of dread, Bonnie began to wonder if all that time with only Damon for company had finally caught up with her and she was beginning to go mad.

"_You're not going mad; I'm a Witch, just like you. Look over at the cell with your friends; I'll be the dark haired woman you don't recognize." _The woman told her.

Looking over at the Cell with a vast majority of prisoners that were her friends, it did not take Bonnie long to locate her fellow Witch. It was a woman in her mid-thirties with long dark brown hair and brown eyes. As their eyes met, the woman smiled at her in a friendly manner.

"_My name is Brooke Davis and Damon is my friend to. Listen Bonnie, I know you think your magic is gone, but it isn't. The thing that's your magic back is you. You need to separate the cable connecting Jeremy to the crate so we can get out of her. We can't save you both. If you don't do this, then it will be the end of every Witch and Vampire throughout the world. I know this is a lot of pressure, but you need to use your magic. Not want to use it, need to use it." _Brooke told Bonnie telepathically with a passionate voice.

Brooke's words bouncing around in her head, Bonnie looked over at the cable leading to Jeremy's cell. With a combination of nervousness and determination, Bonnie stared at it intensely before muttering something in Latin. The sound of the snapping cable echoed as everyone realized what had happened.

Brooke pulled her arm back like she going to throw something and the cloaked Warlock flew over and was slammed against the cell bars, dropping the remote to the ground. Luna stood up and blurred over to the man, slipped her hand through the bars, and wrapped her hand around his throat so he couldn't cast any spells. She slipped her other hand through the bars and searched him for the keys to cells. Once she had them, she snapped the Warlock's neck before letting his corpse fall to the floor and unlocked the cell. Pushing open the cell, she and everyone else ran out of the cell before Luna blurred over and unlocked Bonnie's cell.

In Damon and Peyton's cell, Damon lied on his back after Julian had left. Damon tried to think of anything other than Stefan and Elena's betrayals, there would be time to be hurt and angry later. Right now, he needed to have faith in his friends and family, as he was in no condition to get him and Peyton out of here. If he tried to bust out of here, he'd probably get them both killed along with their child.

"So this Elena…she's your girlfriend?" Peyton asked hesitantly.

"I thought you were dead." Damon said defensively.

"And it would be naïve of me to think that in fifteen years you hadn't pursued other women. So, what's the story?" Peyton asked him.

"After you died, well after I thought you died anyway, I…I became locked in an internal battle against turning off my humanity. For three months I won, but in a moment of weakness on your birthday…I lost. I decided to go on with my original plan to get Katherine out of the tomb. If I couldn't have you, then I could use someone I had loved once to fill the void that used to be my heart. I never thought I could love someone the way I had loved you…until I met Elena." Damon confessed.

"What drew you to her?" Peyton asked knowing that Damon didn't fall in love easily.

"She was Katherine's Doppelganger, but I realized almost immediately she wasn't Katherine. She was Katherine's opposite: kind, compassionate, selfless, full of light with a little bit of darkness that I could see just behind her eyes." Damon told her his tone one of adoration and love for the Doppelganger.

Tree Hill

2:28 P.M.

Haley opened the door to the house and led her family and allies into the house. Matt and Tyler glanced around, noticing a familiarity to the style of the owner. As they spotted pictures on a wooden desk, they understood why.

There was a picture of Damon in a tux with his arm around a blonde haired woman they didn't recognize in a wedding dress. Next to it, there was a picture of Damon and Luna laughing at something, even a group picture of the Two Salvatores, the blonde woman, Nathan, Haley, and Brooke.

"This is Damon's house." Matt realized.

"It was when he lived here, he hasn't stepped foot in this house in almost fifteen years. We keep it in shape in case he ever decided to come for a visit." Nathan explained.

"So, what are we looking for then?" Lucy asked eager to start the spell.

"That." Haley said as she pointed towards the coffee table.

Everyone but Nathan turned their gaze towards it and spotted a small black box one might carry a wedding or engagement ring in. Haley walked over and picked it up off the table as the others watched confused. They heard Haley open it and take something out before snapping it shut. Haley turned around and walked back towards Lucy before giving the Witch something. It was a ring, a simple gold band with a diamond in the center. In the inside of the band, there was a something engraved: _DS & PS forever._

"This was Damon's wedding ring, will that be for you?" Haley asked.

"Let's find out." Lucy told her.

Lucy cradled the ring between her hands as she began chanting in Latin. Her mind was bombarded with images: Damon slipping on the ring on the finger of the blonde woman in the photos before they kissed, the blonde woman screaming as she was sucked through a vortex, a sign that said 'welcome to Charleston!', a trapdoor opening to lead into some sort of underground prison, Damon and the blonde woman in a special cell together. Lucy gasped as she stumbled back, but Luke and Tyler helped steady her.

"Are you alright?" Ivy asked sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," Lucy assured the human as she shook her head in an attempt to clear her head, "I'm not sure about the others, but Damon is back here in our dimension. He's in what looks like an underground prison with the blonde woman from the pictures."

"That's impossible." Haley denied.

"Well it's either her or someone who looks just like her." Lucy snapped.

"We saw her die." Haley said as she gestured to her and Nathan.

"We don't know what we saw Hales," Nathan said in a gentle voice, "all we know for sure is that Julian sent Peyton through a vortex he created with magic."

"We can worry about whether or not this Peyton girl is alive after we've saved our friends." Tyler insisted.

"Correction, we will find your friends," Lucy said as she gestured to herself and the Parkers, "you Humans will have to stay here."

"Absolutely not!" Tyler shouted as Matt and Haley looked as though they agreed with him.

"Guys, she may have a point," Nathan admitted reluctantly as Haley, Matt, and Tyler looked at him in shock, "look, I wanna go down there and save Damon, Luna, and Brooke as much as the rest of you, but Hales…you remember what Julian is capable of. Peyton didn't break up with him because he was lousy in bed and Damon didn't kill him because he was getting on his nerves. If Damon is a demon, then Julian is the devil. He's a psychopath with the power of a Warlock, and if Sheila is right, then he's been planning this for over a decade. Julian is too dangerous an enemy for us to head on in when we'd only be liabilities."

"I've faced down an all-powerful Original Hybrid; I think I can handle a crazy Warlock!" Tyler shouted his Werewolf temper coming out.

"Ty…when you faced Klaus, you were a Hybrid. Now you're just a guy with an untriggered Werewolf gene, Nathan has a point." Matt said gently.

"I know." Tyler admitted reluctantly.

Julian's lair

2:35 P.M.

Our heroes watched from behind a corner as a group of Warlocks ran down the hall where their cells were. Nodding to each other, Brooke and Bonnie stepped out from behind the corner and said something in Latin. They had erected a barrier between them and the Warlocks. They couldn't get to them, no matter how many Warlocks and Witches there were, they would not be able to break a magical barrier created by a Bennett Witch and the Witch Queen.

"It won't take them long to notice the barrier, we need find Damon and Peyton and get out as fast and carefully as we can." Stefan ordered.

"And we're just supposed to fall in line because my hypocritical half-brother say so, I'm so glad things are back to normal." Luna said with a mocking smile.

"Half…brother?" Stefan repeated as though it was a tremendous secret.

"You mean Damon never told you? Surprise, surprise," Luna said sarcastically, "to make a long story short, a year after you were born, our mother tired of being married to your monster of a father and began an affair with a member of Giuseppe's inner circle right under his nose. He, not Giuseppe, was my father. Let's get a move on."

"How can you call him a monster, he raised you Luna?" Stefan called out as his sister began to walk away but she stiffed as he spoke.

"You mean after all these years you never put it together?" Luna asked in disbelief her back to him, "how you and I never seemed to get in trouble growing up, how Damon always told us he'd take care of it whenever we did something wrong? You never noticed that glint of fear that would enter his eyes when he told us that, how we wouldn't see Damon for days afterwards? I knew you could be oblivious, but now I know you're just plain stupid."

"No…it's not true." Stefan's denial sounded half-hearted even to his own ears.

"Giuseppe Salvatore was an abusive monster and the only reason you and I never suffered the same abuse as Damon is because our brother took the blame for everything we did!" Luna shouted at him still with her back to Stefan, "Damon has protected you your entire life Stefan, You may not see it but he has. You on the other hand, have scorned and abandoned him at almost every turn. You are not what your friends think you are: you are not a hero, or a good brother, or the next Vampire Messiah."

"Luna…" Stefan trailed off unable to deny her accusations.

"Did you even _attempt_ to see if Damon had any humanity left before Lexi had convinced you that he had none?!" Luna demanded as she finally turned to face her older brother her eyes flashing with decades of pent up rage.

Stefan's silence and guilty expression was answer enough. Enzo was amused by Luna's verbal lashing at Stefan, yet at the same time he was attracted by it. During the five years they had spent in Augustine together, Damon had talked about two things he had going for him: getting Katherine out of the tomb, and Luna's love. After meeting her, Enzo understood why Damon and Luna had such a strong bond: Lana was just as passionate, impulsive, and relentless as her eldest brother. Just his type, Enzo thought with a smirk.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, we really need to find Damon and his…wife." Enzo said unsure what else to call Peyton.

Not that far from the others, Damon and Peyton were having a discussion. Peyton was trying to keep Damon's mind off his bloodlust by talking about his happiest memories. So, as much as it pained her to do so, she had him talk about his time with Elena. They seemed to be some of his happiest memories.

"When did you first realize you loved her?" She asked him.

"My friend Liz had roped me into a Bachelor auction. I was having trouble buttoning my shirt, so Elena helped me," Damon recalled as he stared up at the cell ceiling, "She started telling me about some information she'd dug up about her birth mother and I remember thinking 'why is she so obsessed with a woman who gaze her up? Anyone who willingly parted ways with Elena is someone who had one too many blows to the head.' It was with that I realized that what I felt for Elena wasn't friendship…it was love."

"You really love her don't you?" Peyton asked thickly dismayed at the fact.

"I love her as I love you," Damon told her honestly, "Look Peyton, I can't promise that everything will go back to how it was and I can't promise that I won't go to be with her. The truth is I have spent the last four months in a dimension designed by Julian specifically to torture me and I barely had a heart beat to absorb the fact that you're carrying my child before Julian's cronies Vervained me. Right now, my only concern is getting you and our child out of this place alive, then we can deal with our personal problems."

Suddenly, a short series of bangs sounded from the metal door, like someone was hitting the door forcibly. With a loud grinding sound, the door was pulled off its hinges before Alaric threw it out of the way. Damon and Peyton glanced over at Alaric and saw the others standing behind him.

"'bout time you guys showed up." Damon told them snarkily.

"P. Sawyer." Brooke said in a choked voice as she walked inside the cell.

"Hey B. Davis." Peyton smiled at her best friend for the first time in over a decade.

This proved too much for Brooke, who broke down and embraced the blonde as she sobbed loudly. Peyton hugged her back, rubbing soothing circles on her friends back. Seeing the reunion between the two best friends, Damon and Luna smile. Enzo had walked over to his best friend and knelt down.

"How are you doing mate?" Enzo inquired with a jovial grin.

"Well, I've been shot up with three tranquilizers full of Vervain; it's taking all my restraint not to rip out my wife's throat, which would kill my unborn child as well, and to top it all off, my arch nemesis used magic to show me what my brother and girlfriend were up to before all this happened. Besides that, I'm great, how are you Enzo?" Damon asked with a mocking cheerful tone.

"Wait, hoe does Julian know what Elena and Stefan were up to?" Caroline asked as the afore mentioned Vampires looked away, guilt clearly shining in their eyes.

"Apparently you can add 'creepy stalker' to Julian's résumé. Are you guys just gonna stand there and play twenty question or are you gonna get us out of here?" Damon asked sharply.

As Luna headed over to break Peyton's chains, Bonnie knelt down next to Damon and offered her wrist to her Vampire friend. Damon raised his eye brow at her but she gave him a look that screamed 'just do it!' Shrugging, Damon let his Vampire eyes and fangs out before he grabbed Bonnie's wrist and sunk his teeth into her. As he drank from her, he heard some of his allies bristle: Jeremy, Caroline, and Stefan out of worry, Elena and Peyton out of jealousy. If wasn't so focused on not taking too much of Bonnie's blood due to all the Vervain in his system, he would have laughed at their reactions. After he had decided he taken enough to give him the strength to protect Peyton should it be needed, he released her wrist. Wiping his chin of blood, Damon, Bonnie, and Enzo all stood up as Luna and Brooke helped the now unchained Peyton stand.

"How'd you do that?" Caroline asked stunned at his self-control even with all the Vervain in his system.

"You'd be surprised how much control you have over your instincts when you spent your Vampire life learning to control them instead of running from them." Damon told her and Stefan winced at the thinly disguised insult.

Suddenly, a sound like a splash of water echoed throughout the cell and Peyton gasped. With a sinking feeling, Damon turned with the others to see a giant water stain on his wife's swollen stomach. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Damon barked as his mind raced with ways to get his wife and child to safety.

"I may be able to help with that."

Everyone whirled around as Luna and Brooke took protective stances in front of Peyton. There was a man in a cloak, the same cloak that Julian and his followers wore, with the hood up. Damon, Enzo, and Alaric prepared to fight, but the cloaked man stepped back as he held up his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Wait, wait! I'm not here to fight, I'm here to help!" the cloaked man shouted desperately.

"And why should we trust you?" Damon demanded as he stalked closer to the Warlock threateningly.

"Because I hate Julian just as much as you do," the man told him and Damon paused halfway between his allies and the cloaked man, "the only reason I'm working with him is because he threatened my son! Julian is too powerful for me to take on alone…but if you guys take out…"

"Then you're free to leave and go back to your son." Alaric put it together.

"If your story is true, then you won't mind showing us your face." Damon said wanting to see the man's face in case he needed to hunt him down.

Without hesitation, the man pulled back his hood. He was a man with brown hair and blue eyes in his mid to late twenties. Damon locked eyes with the man for several long moments. It was amazing how much you could tell from a man's eyes alone. After a few decades of practice, you could usually tell what kind of man they were simply by looking into their eyes. From what Damon could see, this man was either a very convincing actor or someone who genuinely hated Julian and wanted to get out from under his thumb.

"Okay. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt but I've got my eye on you. And if you betray me, I will kill you." Damon promised.

"I would expect nothing less," The man said as he began to lead them out of the cell, "I'm Clay by the way."

Scott residence

3:01 P.M.

Nathan walked into his bedroom and stopped at the sight of his wife. Haley was sitting on their bed, staring at a framed picture with a sad look in her eyes. As Nathan walked over to her, he saw that it was what he had expected: a picture of Damon, Peyton, Luna, Brooke, and the two of them that had been taken just after Damon and Peyton's wedding. Damon and Peyton were just about to go one there Honeymoon and everyone had gotten together for a photo, knowing that it would be one of the rare opportunities to do so, as once they returned it wouldn't be long before Damon turned Peyton and they left Tree Hill for good, or at least for Nathan's lifetime.

"Everything was so much simpler back then, wasn't it?" Nathan asked with a rueful smile.

"If by simpler, you mean the only problem we had to deal with being our best friend crazy Warlock ex trying to make her and her Vampire boyfriend miserable, then yeah, it was simpler," Haley said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "where's Jamie?"

"Down stairs with Tyler, Matt, and Ivy," Nathan told her as he sat on their bed next to her and held her hand as she put the picture on her lap, "I know you're worried about them, and I know this thing with Lucy seeing Peyton has you freaking out. But we have to have faith that things will get better. I poise you Hales, we will see them again."

Julian's lair

3:17 P.M.

Clay led them through the prison and Damon was growing more and more suspicious. They had not encountered Julian or any of his followers. Either Clay was just that good or, more likely, they were headed into a trap. Clay to face the wall and said something in Latin and then, to everyone's shock, part of the wall the size of a door just seemed to vanish. The could see out a road with grass on either side it. However, there seemed be some sort of colorless barrier between the gap in the wall and the outside.

"Don't worry; the barrier is just to hide us from the humans." Clay assured them as though he could hear their thoughts.

Still, they were hesitant. How much did they really trust Clay? For all they knew he was leading them to their deaths. Damon decided to test it himself, not wanting to put any of his loved ones at risk. He walked forward with the others watching his every move. He stepped in front of the gap and hesitantly put his left hand through the barrier as his allies watched with baited breath. Damon had expected his hand to burn with searing pain, but nothing. Still wary, he stepped all the way through and found himself outside, completely unharmed. He turned around and, just as Clay said, he couldn't see a trace of the prison.

"Come on out, it's okay." Damon told them.

Luna helped Peyton walk through the barrier with Elena, Jeremy, Bonnie, Enzo, Caroline, and Stefan following. Alaric and Brooke lingered, looking at Clay with gratitude and concern. What would happen to him once Julian realized that one of his followers had helped them escape? As if he could hear their thoughts, he smiled at them reassuring.

"Don't worry about, just take Julian down. He is a threat not only to Witches and Vampires, but the entire world." Clay told them ominously.

Alaric and Brooke nodded before they followed their friends through the barrier. The group of eleven and a half looked around the area before Damon heard the roar of semi-trailer truck. Smirking, he blurred over to the middle of the road and waited. The truck came speeding down the road before the driver slammed on the breaks when they saw Damon. The truck stopped a few feet from Damon and the driver, a Caucasian man in his mid-thirties with blue eyes wearing a trucker hat, climbs out of the car and stalked towards Damon angrily.

"Are you out of your mind, you could've been killed!?" The man angrily demanded as he stalked towards Damon.

Damon responded by grabbing the man's shirt and lifting him off the ground. The man was stunned into a terrified silence as Damon looked into his eyes. The others watched as Damon smiled charmingly. Knowing he was about to compel the man.

"Don't be afraid and answer my questions honestly," Damon compelled before setting the man on the ground, "now, where are we?"

"Charleston, North Carolina." The man answered in the way that all compelled people did.

"Well then, here's what's going to happen: you're going to drive me and my friends to the nearest hospital as quickly and safely as possible. And would you happen to have a cell phone?"

Scott residence

3:23 P.M.

Nathan and Haley had just walked into their kitchen when Nathan's cell phone began ringing. He took it out but didn't recognize the number. Frowning, Nathan answered and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked into the phone.

"This is going to sound really creepy, but you have no idea how good it feels to hear your voice."

"Damon?" Nathan gasped causing the other humans to look at him.

"Look, were in Charleston heading to the hospital, all of us. And before you ask why, it's a long story that I'd rather only tell you in person." Damon told him before hanging up.

The Truck, en route to Charleston hospital

3:45 P.M.

Peyton attempted calming breaths as she felt her contractions come. Damon, Luna, and Brook surrounded her awhile Stefan, Enzo, Elena, Caroline, Alaric, Jeremy and Bonnie sat on the other side of the trailer. Luna held Peyton's hand in a show of support and Peyton managed a grateful smile before a contraction hit. Peyton screamed in pain as she gripped Luna's hand tightly and then-

_Crack! _

Everyone looked as Luna snatched her now broken hand back. Luna stared, not in pain but in shock, even as her bones healed. Everyone's minds were whirling with shock. How was it possible for Peyton, an ordinary human, to break the bones of Luna, a Vampire that was over a century old?

"It's the child," Brooke said as everyone turned to her, "the baby she's carrying is half Vampire, so it must be giving her partial Vampire abilities."

"About half way through the pregnancy, the switched my drink," Peyton said as Damon and Brooke turned to look at her, "When they first captured me, it was just regular water. But then, one day, they switched it to this red liquid. I could never figure out what it was, I had never tasted anything like it before."

"Blood." Damon realized.

"Are we sure we should be taking her to a hospital? I mean, I don't think doctors will know how to deliver a Vampire/Human Hybrid." Caroline pointed out.

"I already thought of that Blondie, I made a few calls." Damon assured her.

Suddenly, the truck pulled to a stop. Everyone tenses, fearing the worst as they wait for something to happen. The door to the trailer goes up as the driver pulls it open. Behind him, the saw the doors of a hospital, they had arrived.

It took all of one second for this register in Damon's mind before he sprang into action. Picking his wife bridal style, he raced off the trailer and started running towards the doors as fast as humanly possible. Almost running into the automatic doors, Damon ran into the hospital and all the doctors pulled out a stretched and raced towards them, having been prepared for this. Damon placed his wife on the stretcher and they began to lead her away. Realizing what was happening; Peyton tried to sit up in protest but one of the doctors gently but firmly pushed her back down. Peyton looked at him and her eyes widened as she recognized him. It was a Caucasian man in his mid-fifties with greying brown hair and green eyes.

"Daddy?" Peyton asked shocked.

"I'm here Peyton, I'm here." Larry Sawyer assured his daughter as he took her hand.

As they pushed Peyton's stretcher down the hall, Larry glanced back at Damon. He gestured with his head towards the receptionist who pulled out a brown paper bag. As the others entered the hospital, Damon walked over to the receptionist and grabbed the bag. As he looked inside, he almost vamped out right there at the right of the blood bags. Rolling it up again, Damon walked off to find a private place to drink his fill.

Julian's Liar

4:01 P.M.

Clay stood staring at a picture of his son. Little Logan was only five the last time he had seen him…he hadn't seen Logan in over a year. Hearing someone approaching from behind, Clay quickly pocketed the picture. Turning around, he was met with Julian's smirking face.

"I must admit, it was a very convincing act, getting them to trust you." Julian noted.

"Who said I was acting?" Clay asked rhetorically as he glared at Julian with hatred.

"I know, I know, you hate me for taking you away from your son." Julian rolled his eyes at Clay.

"Why do you want them to escape if you want to kill the child?" Clay couldn't help but ask.

"The child needs to be born before it dies. I knew Damon would never harm his own child, he not that heartless." Julian dismissed.

"We had a deal Julian: I do this last thing for you, and then I'm free to leave and never come back." Clay reminded him.

"Yes, I did say that didn't I," Julian said as he stepped closer to Clay, "however, there is only one way to leave my Coven."

Julian raised his right hand as though to strike Clay but instead mad a gesture like he was pushing down on something. Feeling he was being pressed down with a force of one thousand pounds, Clay fell to his knees and used his hands to keep his self from falling completely to the ground. Smirking, Julian raised his hand and made a gesture that had his third and fourth fingers pointing up and Clay suddenly shout up, feeling like he was about to start coughing.

"Please, my son." Clay begged.

"Ah yes, little Logan. Don't you worry Clay; I'll take good care of him." Julian smirked.

Julian made a fist and Clay started coughing up blood. Blood started pouring from the corner of Clay's eyes as he continued to cough blood before he collapsed to the floor as the light faded from his eyes. Julian started indifferently at his former follower's corpse before two of his cloaked followers came in to remove the body.

Charleston Hospital

4:07 P.M.

Damon walked over to his friends and family, throwing the bag of empty blood bags in a trashcan as he did. He eyed Stefan and Elena as he would over, noting that both of them shifted guiltily. They should, Damon thought bitter as what Julian had shown him flashed through his mind. Damon was so caught up in this that he didn't notice when Luna walked over to him and almost attacked her before he realized who she was when she pulled him into a hug.

"I didn't have the chance to do this before with all the crazy happening." Luna whispered as she buried her face into his chest.

Relaxing, Damon returned the hug as he buried his face into her blonde hair. The watching a gaze a little smile, touched at the emotional reunion between the Vampire siblings. As they separated, Damon received warm greetings from Enzo, Alaric, Brooke, Jeremy, even from Caroline. Once everyone had gotten as much of Damon as they wanted, Damon walked passed them and stalked over to Stefan and Elena, not threateningly but angrily. Everyone could tell this was about to get ugly, so they looked around for any innocents that could get hurt in the crossfire.

"Well well well, if it isn't my loyal brother and girlfriend," Damon said, a sarcastic cutting edge to his voice that made Stefan and Elena wince, "but are you that loyal? Julian didn't seem to think so when he showed me memories of Stefan telling Elena to give up on me and Elena asking Alaric to compel her to forget that she every loved me."

Behind him, Damon heard the shocked gasps of those who were unaware of Elena's plan (everyone but Alaric and Luna) but he kept his eyes on Stefan and Elena. Their guilty, ashamed expressions were all the proof he needed to know that Julian was telling the truth, though he had hoped Julian was lying. His heart broke as Elena and Stefan's guilt was increased by the heartbroken look in Damon's eyes, although he quickly his it.

"Damon…" Stefan trailed off not sure what he could say to Damon that would make this better.

"You gave up on me," Damon's glare made Stefan feel like he was five years old again, "I gone to Hell and back for you, actually, I _did_ go to hell and back for you, and you gaze up on me. If the situations had been reversed, I never would've given up on you. I would spent every waking moment looking for, searching for a way to bring you back. The sun would've imploded, bring an end to all life on earth before I stopped looking for you…I once promised you an eternity of misery. I revoked my promise because I thought you'd changed, but I was wrong. You're still the same person who forced me to turn into a Vampire, the same person who left me to be tortured by the Augustine society for five years."

"So what, you're just gonna go back to torturing me every time you see me?" Stefan asked in disbelief, refusing to believe Damon would do that after how far he'd come.

"No…this time, I'm just done with you," Damon told him and everyone stared at him in shock, "I want no part in your life and I don't want you to be part of mine. As far as I am concerned, we are no longer brothers. I'm done with you Stefan."

Stefan stared at Damon, a heart broken, lost look in his eyes. Every stared at Damon stunned. Even Luna, who had known Damon for most of his mortal and immortal life, never thought that Damon would cut their brother out of his life. Damon then turned his glare on Elena, who braced for his verbal lashing with dread.

"You wanted to erase me," Damon said his voice cracking as his eyes revealed how much she had broken his heart, "if it was you who was gone, no matter how much pain I was in, I would never degrade you or what we had by erasing you. I'd have rather spent every waking moment in crippling agony than have erased you Elena…I guess you just didn't feel the same way…maybe you never did."

"Damon-" Elena began only for Damon to hold up his hand in a 'stop!' motion.

"Don't Elena…I don't want to hear it right now," Damon said as he began to turn away before he paused and towards the others, "would you have done it Ric?"

"What?" Alaric asked confused.

"If all this craziness hadn't happened would you have compelled her to forget me?" Damon clarified.

Alaric opened and closed his mouth but no sound came out. Having his answer, Damon gave Alaric a hurt look before his face hardened and he turned away from everyone.

"Well I guess I see you around…Mr. Saltzman," Damon said not seeing Alaric's hurt look, "I'll be in the cafeteria, no one follow me."

Charleston hospital

8:23 P.M.

The Scotts pulled up to the hospital with Jamie, Ivy, Matt, and Tyler all squeezed in the back seat. Behind them, Lucy pulled up with the Parkers in the back seat. As they parked, they all pilled out of the car and raced towards the hospital. As they walked inside, they were about to walk over to the receptionist when they saw their friends plus a dark skinned girl with short hair that only Matt, Tyler, Lucy, and the Parkers recognized sitting in the waiting area.

"Bonnie." Matt said like it was too good to be true.

Hearing her name, Bonnie looked up and saw her only missing friends. Bonnie had barely stood up before Matt had trapped her in a bear hug. She returned the hug before Tyler joined in as the others approached. After a few seconds, the three person hug broke before she spotted her distant cousin. Bonnie was confused, why was Lucy with her friends, as well as Damon's she thought as she recognized the older version of Haley and Nathan from Damon's vision.

"Your grandmother's spirit led your friends to me so I could help them come get you." Lucy answered the unasked question.

"Where is Uncle Damon?" Jamie asked innocently and was confused when everyone tensed.

"Yeah, where is Damon?" Nathan asked as he looked around for his friend.

"Well the short version is…Stefan, Elena, and Alaric pissed him of so he stormed off to the cafeteria and never came back." Jeremy spilled ignoring the glares of his family plus Stefan.

"Excuse me," a female nurse with black hair and blue eyes in her early twenties appeared next to them, "I'm looking for a Damon Salvatore?"

"He's probably in the cafeteria." Alaric told her.

"She nodded politely with a grateful smile before turning around to walk towards the cafeteria. As he looked around, Tyler realized someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Caroline?"

In the cafeteria, Damon was at a table eating some third rate past when he heard someone pull out the chair across from him. He looked up to see Caroline sitting down across from him and he let out a humorless laugh. The baby blonde Vampire never had listened him had she?

"If you're here to plead Stefan and Elena's case, then save it." Damon snapped.

"That's not why I'm here, but I'm actually up there with you with Stefan. As for Elena, the only thing I'll say is you have no idea how hard it was for her." Caroline told him empathetically.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, because it was just a damn picnic for me!" Damon hissed at her and she reeled back in shock, "I mean I was only trapped in dimension created by arch nemesis solely to torment me, forced to relive the worst day of my life, the day I thought my wife had died, stranded with only Bonnie Bennett of all people for company. But silly me, I have no idea what she must gone through, right?! I get that it was hell for her here Caroline, but it was hell for me over there to."

"Okay, you made your point, but like I said, this isn't why I'm here." Caroline told him.

"Then why are you here Blondie?" Damon asked as he took a drink of water.

"I wanted to see how you were doing with the fact that you're about to be a dad." Caroline told him honestly.

Damon blinked at her for a minute before he burst out laughing. A few of the people shot him glares which he didn't even notice. Caroline waited for him to get his laughter under control, which took a few minutes. Once he had, he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes before he looked at her again.

"I'm sorry, it's just…the world has tipped on its axis, for we are living in a world where you are one of my only true friends." Damon snickered at the irony.

"Okay, I see the humor in that," Caroline smiled before getting serious again, "but seriously, how are you?"

"Well, as I'm sure you've noticed, I didn't get a lot of time to think about it…that's what I've been doing here for the past four hours, just thinking about what this all means," Damon told her, almost forgetting that she was there, "at first, I wasn't sure what to think about it…but then I remembered my father. How he was disappointed in me from almost the moment I was born. How he would beat me, and how I would live in near constant fear that he would one day turn his cruelty on Stefan and Luna. If there's one thing I learned from hi, it's how a father shouldn't act. So I made a promise to myself, that I would be a better father than him."

"Excuse me?"

Damon and Caroline turned around to see the nurse who had asked their friends for help, though they didn't know it. She smiled apologetically at them before speaking.

"Are you Damon Salvatore?" She asked.

"Who's asking?" Damon asked wearily.

"Doctor Sawyer sent me, He requested me to bring you to your wife's room." She explained kindly.

"Well I guess that's my cue." Damon said as he stood up.

The nurse led him from the cafeteria and up a flight of stairs. They walked down the hall of the second floor and walked around until they reached room 237. The nodded at him with a kind smile before she walked off. Damon took a deep breath before he opened the door.

Peyton was lying in bed wearing a hospital gown, apparently asleep. Larry sat by her bed side, dressed in ordinary clothes instead of the doctors uniform Damon had seen him wearing earlier. In his arms Larry held a pink buddle that he was staring at lovingly. Damon closed the door and Larry looked at him. Father and son-in-law stared at each other for the first time in many years.

"Larry." Damon greeted awkwardly.

"Damon." Larry greeted more warmly.

"How is she?" Damon asked as he looked at Peyton.

"She's fine; it was an easy delivery, easier than anyone I've ever had, but she's exhausted after all she's been through," Larry said as he stood up and walked over to Damon, "but I thought you might like to meet your daughter."

Larry handed the bundle to Damon, who took it like it was fine china. Damon looked down at his daughter's face and found himself entranced. Her face was a mixture of himself and Peyton, though he saw she had his nose and Peyton's chin. What hair she had was blonde just like Peyton's, but she had his sky blue eyes. As she stared up at him, cooing innocently, Damon felt an incredible feeling of protectiveness and love, greater than any he had ever felt for Peyton, Elena, and even Luna, the person he loved most…at least until this moment.

"Hi there…I'm your dad, and no one's gonna touch you as long as I'm here." Damon promised softly.

**So, what do you think? For you Delena, Defan, and Dalaric fans whose hearts I have crushed in this chapter, I'm sorry but I hate how the writers basically just brushed off how deeply those three hurt him when he came back. But I have some spoilers for you right here:**

**Delena: a rather important, but not consuming, part of the story moving forward will be the triangle between Damon, Elena, and Peyton, and it wouldn't be so if Damon just cut Elena out of his life, would it? Don't worry, they'll talk soon.**

**Defan: as you know if you've read my profile or my other VD stories, I've never been a fan of how Stefan has treaded Damon, past and present. Right now, their relationship is completely destroyed. On the bright side, a big part of the story will be Stefan attempting to rebuild his relationship with not only Damon, but Luna as well.**

**Dalaric: this is actually the most hopeful of the three relationships right now. Holding his daughter in his arms changed everything for Damon, including his perspective on why Alaric would've gone along with Elena's plan. He will still be hurt, but he will be more lenient towards Alaric. We actually get a really bromantic scene with these two in the next chapter.**

**Also, I have no idea what to name the baby, so any suggestions are open.**

**Please give me some feedback, please?!**


	6. Love and hate

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except Luna Salvatore and the baby.**

**Warning: I feel obligated to inform you guys that this chapter contains some violence and mentions of torture.**

_The village which will become Mystic Falls, tenth centaury_

_Night_

_Tatia watched with a bored mind as her fellow villagers danced around the burning fire. Her father had insisted that she, her mother, and herself all attend the party thrown by the village leader, saying it helped to be in his good graces. Personally, Tatia would have rather stayed home at their hut, staying up at the stars. Seeing her father was distracted in a conversation with Mikael, Tatia decided that now would be the perfect time to escape to the woods. She turned to leave but she had barely taken three steps when she tripped over a small rock hidden in the night. She would have fallen backwards on to the hard ground if two strong arms hadn't caught her. She looked up to thank her savior when her words caught in her throat._

_Her savior was a man in his early twenties with the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen. He had long black hair as dark as the night sky that went halfway down his back and white skin, both of which looked a little orange from the fire's light. Tatia felt her heart race and her skin began to moisten with sweat. Who was this man and why did he have such an effect on her. Not even Elijah and Niklaus, whose attention flattered her more than her other suitors, had this kind of effect on her._

"_Are you alright Tatia?" Her savior asked in a smooth voice that sent shivers down her spin as he helped her to her feet._

"_H-How do you know my name?" Tatia asked in a shaky voice._

"_Everyone knows your name," He said with a cheeky smile before he became serious again, "are you unharmed?"_

"_I am uninjured," She assured him softly as she admired him, "I don't believe I have had the pleasure."_

"_Kaleb, Kaleb Roransson." He introduced himself with that smile again as butterflies fluttered in Tatia's stomach. _

Elena opened her eyes, at first confused about what had happened and what she had seen. Then, as if by magic, Klaus's story of Tatia and her lover and she could see the picture of her male ancestor in her mind's eye. It seemed as though Klaus's theory about the Petrova Doppelgängers having the essence of Tatia's soul and Tatia's lover being reincarnated every century or so. Looking up at the hospital's clock, Elena saw that it was 9:35 and looked around at her companions.

Jeremy and Bonnie were snuggled up in one chair, making Elena feel happy for her brother and best friend, yet at the same time jealous that they could be with the one they loved while she could not. Stefan sat in a chair next to them, looking like he was just a little lost boy and just stared ahead with a blank, lost look in his eyes and was unresponsive when Ivy tried to snap him out of it. Alaric sat next to them, looking like he could use a drink with Enzo playing with his phone next to him. Luke and Lucy were quietly talking while Liv was sneaking glances at Tyler who was next to Elena and Tyler was mimicking the Witch. Luna and Brooke were sitting with Nathan and Haley, while Luna held Jamie who was starting to nod off on her shoulder.

"I don't know what surprises me more: that Peyton is alive or that the prophecy of light and darkness was referring to Damon, Peyton, and their child." Haley said shock and awe in her voice.

"How's Damon doing with all this?" Nathan asked concerned for his friend's mental state.

"He's fine."

They all jumped at the sound of Caroline's voice. Everyone turned to her as the Blonde sat down next to Luna, eating a protein bar from the vending machine. Caroline's mysterious disappearance had baffled them, but they had assumed that she had gone for a walk or to get some blood. However, from what she had just said, she done what they had not dared to do…she had gone to talk to Damon.

"You…went to talk to Damon…about his feelings?" Luna asked like it was the strangest thing in the world.

"Shocking, I know, but I thought someone needed to talk to him about all this, or at least listen as he talked and it was obvious that none of you were about to." Caroline told her almost scolding her as Damon's friends began shifting guiltily.

"How is he?" Haley asked cautiously as everyone listened intently.

"Well, he's…angry, hurt, feels like his whole world has been turned upside down. He doesn't seem to know where to go from here." Caroline told her as stared at her snack.

"And how is he dealing with the fact that he's about to become a dad?" Brooke asked curiously.

"That is the one thing Damon doesn't seemed conflicted about," Caroline said as a gentle smile appeared on her face, "he gave me this speech about what kind of a monster his father was and how he would be a better father than his own."

As they talked, Jamie was almost asleep with his head over Luna's shoulder. His eyes were half closed when he saw a familiar face making its way towards him. His eyes snapped open and a grin lit up his face before he hopped out of Luna's arms and onto the floor. As his family watched confused, he ran out of the waiting area and towards the man walking towards him.

"Uncle Larry!" Jamie shouted as he jumped into the man's waiting arms.

"Hey Jamie." Larry said as he hugged the boy tightly as the rest of the group approached him.

"It's good to see you Larry." Brooke said as the man released the young boy and stood to his full height.

"And you as well Brooke, it's good to see all of you again." Larry said as he smiled at Nathan, Haley, and Luna.

"Everyone, this is Larry Sawyer Peyton's father. Larry, this is everyone." Luna introduced the man with a wave of her hand.

"It's nice to meet all of you," Larry smiled at the unfamiliar faces politely before turning back to Brooke, "Brooke, Damon and Peyton would like to see you and Luna."

"Peyton is she…" Brooke trailed off.

"She's alright, just a little tired. It's extremely important that you two come with me," Larry said grimly before looking over at those he didn't recognize, "Damon would also like to see an Enzo and an Alaric."

Surprise rippled through the group at his words. It wasn't such a surprise that Damon wanted Enzo, but it was another story for Alaric. Not six hours ago, Damon had basically disowned Alaric as his best friend and now he wanted to see him? What on earth was going on?

One Elevator ride later, Larry had led the group of four to room 237. Larry gaze them a nod towards the door before walking back towards the Elevator. They stared at the door before Brooke opened it and the four of them walked inside.

Peyton was sitting up in bed, holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket, Peyton looking like it was the proudest moment of her life. Damon was sitting in a chair looking at the scene at the scene with a fond smile. Enzo closed the door behind him, alerting Damon and Peyton to their presence. Peyton looked up and smiled at Brooke and Luna as Damon nodded to Alaric and Enzo. Luna and Brooke slowly approach the bed as Damon watched, amused.

"She's not gonna disappear just because you touch her ya know." Damon snickered as they shot him dirty looks.

"Hey B. Davis, Luna." Peyton smiled a beaming smile at them.

"I can't believe it…you're really…" Brooke couldn't get the words out over her tears of joy.

"Just so you now, I would be hugging the crap out of you right now if you weren't holding my niece." Luna said with a watery smile.

"Would you like to hold her?" Peyton asked her sister-in-law.

"If-if I could." Luna requested as she held out her arms.

Still smiling, Peyton handed her daughter over to her friend. Luna took her niece as though she was a piece of fine china as she stared at a pair of blue eyes identical to her own. She could see that this baby was definitely the product of her brother and Peyton; she was a piece of Damon and a piece of Peyton. Her niece stared up at her silently for a moment before flashing her a familiar, toothless grin that reminded Luna eerily of Damon's smirk.

"Hi there, I'm your aunt Luna." Luna said in a soft voice.

"As touching as this is, you didn't call the four of us up here just to meet your daughter, did you?" Alaric asked knowingly.

"Cutting right then, alright buddy," Damon said with a friendly grin before his expression turned to grim, "to be blunt, Julian let us get away."

"So I'm not the only one who notice then?" Brooke asked as Damon and Peyton nodded in confirmation

"What are you talking about?" Enzo asked confused.

"Julian Baker is a lot of things…stupid is not one of them," Damon explained as Enzo and Alaric looked at him for elaboration, "if his endgame was to break me so that I would kill Peyton and our child, he didn't try all that hard. He didn't leave any guards by our cell and then there's Clay. I think his hate for Julian is genuine, but I think he was acting on Julian's orders when he helped us; no one is that good at avoiding guards."

"But why would he do that, it makes no sense?" Alaric was still confused.

"Unless he needed the baby to be born first before he killed her." Luna realized as she stared down at her giggling niece with dread.

"Our thoughts exactly." Peyton nodded.

"So why do you need us?" Enzo asked willing to do anything to protect his best friend's daughter.

"Well first, Brooke, I need you to cast a cloaking spell on my daughter," Damon ordered the Witch and she nodded, "Ric, you and I need to talk outside while Peyton brings Luna and Enzo up to speed."

It was not lost on Alaric that Damon used his nickname as he followed the older Vampire outside. As Damon closed the door behind him, Damon turned to him and Alaric noticed something different about him. While he was still serious, Alaric noticed that the darkness behind Damon's eyes was still there, but it had greatly lessened. Like a great weight had lifted off his shoulders.

"Damon, about Elena, I-"Alaric began but Damon cut him off.

"It's okay Ric, it's okay." Damon attempted to assure him sounding like he meant it.

"Damon, not six hours ago you disowned me as your best friend. What happened between then and now?" Alaric asked grateful that Damon wasn't fully mad at him anymore but confused.

"I held my daughter in my arms," Damon said with tenderness in his voice that Alaric had heard before when Damon talked about Elena, "I looked down at her and I realized I would do anything to protect her. What I'm trying to say is, I get why you would have gone along with Elena's plan, as crazy as it was."

"So you forgive me?" Alaric asked skeptical that Damon of all people could forgive him that easily yet his tone was still hopeful.

"No," Damon told him firmly with a hint of hurt in his voice, "I may understand why you would have done it, but you are supposed to be my best friend, and you basically said you would've done the worst thing you could've possibly done to me before all this craziness happened…it's gonna time for me to forgive that."

"I understand," Alaric nodded sadly, "so, what is it that you need to talk to me about?"

"Even with the cloaking spell, it will only be a matter of time before Julian tracks my daughter here," Damon told him as he pulled out a piece of paper, "once Brooke casts the spell, I want you to take my daughter to this address. Enzo and Luna will follow in another car, it'll throw Julian off. I'm going to stay here to make sure my friends are protected and Peyton and I will join you along with anyone who wants to join us."

Damon handed Alaric the paper and Alaric recognized the address as a street near Whitmore College. Alaric looked back up at Damon and something inside the Salvatore seemed to harden as he gave Alaric a determined look. Alaric recognized this look as the one Damon had when he was preparing to battle a great enemy such as Klaus or Katherine. It was then that Alaric knew that even if he tried, Damon would not be deterred.

"Are you about this?" Alaric asked worriedly.

"After Luna, there is no one else I would trust with my daughter's life." Damon told him and touched, Alaric, had no further complaints.

Meanwhile down in the lobby, Larry had explained the situation to everyone. Elena, Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie, and Jeremy had all decided to while the Tyler, Matt, and The Parkers had decided to journey back with Alaric, Luna, and Enzo in order to help protect the baby. That's right, even Liv. Guess babies bring out the best in people, huh?

Ivy and Lucy were left in limbo, feeling like outsiders in this group of people who were all somehow connected. Stefan, seeing the look on Ivy's face, gulped. He knew what he had to do, he didn't want to do it, but he had to. It was the right thing to do, right for Ivy, right for him, and right for his family. With a determination mixed with sadness, Stefan walked over to Ivy and quietly asked her to talk a walk with him. Confused, she agreed. They walked away from the rest of the group and down the hall until they reached the cafeteria. Stefan took Ivy's hand and led her over to a table near the back of the room before they sat across from each other.

"Ivy…I owe you an apology." Stefan told her remorsefully.

"Damn right you do, how could you not tell me that you were a Vampire?" Ivy hissed low enough so that she couldn't be heard.

"Four months ago, my brother died and I thought he was gone for good. I shut everyone out, my best friend called me for months but I never answered. I couldn't deal with the fact that my brother was gone, so I decided to run from it by moving on." Stefan explained shamefully.

"So you were just using me to run away from you're feeling about your brother's death." Ivy said angry seeping from her tone.

"At first, but I really do like you Ivy. I have lied to you about almost everything, but not that." Stefan told her sincerely.

"So…your brother, he's back now?" Ivy asked confused at the prospect.

"It's a long story that I have no intention of telling you." Stefan said matter of factly.

"And why not?" Ivy asked as anger started to seep into her voice.

"Earlier today, Damon, my brother, told me that I haven't change from the person I was when I first became a Vampire…and he's right," Stefan admitted as Ivy looked at him confused, "I'm still the same person I was when I became a Vampire in 1864: a scared, lost little boy who was too afraid to face the world without his big brother."

"Stefan…" Ivy was unsure of what to say in response of Stefan doing what she had been begging him to do for two months: sharing his past.

"Over the last one hundred and fifty years I have destroyed my relationship with Damon and Luna because of my own fear and self-loathing. I need to put repairing my relationships with my siblings before anything else right now," Stefan steeled himself as he prepared to compel her, "so here's what's going to happen: you're going to go back to Savanah and get your stuff. You will find another place to live and go there; you'll live a normal, human life. You're going to forget everything you learned about me and the Supernatural world. As far as you know, I was just a guy that moved to Savanah that you moved in with but left after we broke up."

Stefan gets up and walks away before the compulsion sets in. Stefan hurriedly walks out of the cafeteria, so quickly that he doesn't notice Caroline leaning against the wall, looking at his retreating form with hurt in her eyes.

Julian's lair, September 9th

9:21 A.M.

Julian sat down Indian style chanting as he had for the past couple hours. Giving up, Julia n stood up and let out a roar of frustration as one of his followers walked in.

"Something the matter Sir?" the cloaked follower asked his voice giving away nothing of his inner fear.

"Damon must have had Brooke Davis put a cloaking spell on the child; I can't locate it with my magic." Julian said rage leaking from his voice.

"Even so, it will only be a matter of time before you find them. They cannot hide forever." His follower said nervously.

"Yes, you're right," Julian said as a dark smile crept onto his face, "I have other resources at my disposal besides magic."

Charleston hospital, room 237

9:35 P.M.

Peyton holds her daughter like a life line as Brooke stood by her bedside. Damon stood by the door while Larry stood on the other side of Peyton's bed. All of them wore expressions of great emotional pain, but they all knew what had to be done, for the good of that little girl. Brooke paced a comforting on her best friend's shoulder and used her free hand to gently ghost her fingers over the baby's left cheek. The moment her fingers came into contact with the baby's skin, Brooke let out a gasp as a vision assaulted her mind

_There was a large gathering around a table with a large piece of paper at the center of the table. On one side of the table, Klaus sat in a single chair and was flanked by Damon, Marcel, a man in a suit with dark brown hair and eyes, and a teenage girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, behind them stood multiple Vampires._

_On the other side of the table, Brooke herself sat in a chair flanked by Luke, Liv, Lucy, and other Witches she recognized as leaders from cozens all across the world. Brooke passed a pen to Klaus who took it with a smirk._

"_You understand that once you sign this, no Vampire's under your command can feed on, attack, or attack Witches?" Brooke heard herself ask Klaus._

"_You understand that once you sign this, no Witch can conduct Vampire-genocide plans?" Klaus countered with a smirk._

_The scene changed to a grassy field. A girl of about five or six with curly blonde hair and sky blue eyes was running through the fields, twirling around in her sun dress looking like she was having the time of her life. She stopped and waved at someone with a familiar grin on her face. A little ways away, Damon stood watching his daughter with a woman whose features Brooke couldn't make out._

"_Mommy, Daddy, come play with me!" The girl shouted in a voice that sounded like an angel._

Brooke stumbled away from the bed before she regained her balance. She looked up to see three pairs of eyes looking at her concerned and slightly curious.

"What did you see Brooke?" Damon asked softly.

"It doesn't matter; it's only one possible future. If I tell you, you might trying and make it happen, which could be the thing that prevents it from happening." Brooke explained.

Damon nodded at her before he walked over to the bed. Peyton presses her lips to her sleeping daughter's forehead before passing her to Damon as tears slide down her face. Damon seemed no happier to be holding his daughter than Peyton was to give her to him, as he looked as though he was in great physical agony. Brooke, seeing her two friends shared pain, placed on hand on both of their shoulders in an attempt to comfort them.

"This isn't forever you two, it's just until we know that our friends are safe." Larry assured them though he seemed to be masking his own pain with stoicism.

"He's right Peyton…we will see our daughter again." Damon said as his back straightened with determination.

"You really think so?" Peyton asked as she looked at her husband desperately.

"I promise on my life…well, I mean on my…oh, you know what I mean!" Damon said exasperated as he turned about walked out the open door.

Damon took the elevator down to the ground lever and walked out the door. Once he stepped outside, he saw Stefan, Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, Haley, Nathan, and Jamie standing near four black identical Volvos. Three of them were occupied by two people, Matt and Luke, Tyler and Live, Luna and Enzo. The last one had a car seat in the back for a new born as Alaric leaned against the car. As Damon approached them, Caroline, Bonnie, and Haley suddenly surrounded him, cooing over his daughter.

"Aw, she's so quite!" Caroline squeals.

"Thanks blondie." Damon manages to crack a smile despite the painful situation.

"She has your eyes." Haley noticed as the girl's gaze went from each of the three women surrounding her.

"Really I hadn't noticed." Damon's reply came out harsher than he meant it to.

"I hate to break this up but…we really need to get going." Alaric said apologetically as he approached.

"I know, but…can I have a minute to say goodbye?" Damon asked chokingly.

"Of course." Alaric said sympathetically.

Alaric started to walk away and gestured for the three women to follow. Soon enough, the new father was left alone with his daughter. Damon gently ran his hand over the sides of his daughter's cheek as she stared up at him curiously while the guard expression h had put up to hide his pain fell away. It was difficult for his friends and family to see Damon, someone who was usually so strong, reduced to almost a weeping mess. Out of instinct, Elena took a step forward to try and comfort him, but held herself back, knowing he would not want her comfort right now.

"it's funny…I didn't even know you were coming twenty four hours ago, but now I can't imagine letting you out of my sight for even an hour," Damon spoke softly as his daughter stared uncomprehending up at him, "but for the sake of my loved ones, and you, I will. I can't be selfish you, I have to act in your best interests, and right now that means sending you away with someone I trust. It's not forever my daughter, and as soon as I have made sure our family is safe, your mother and I will come to you. Should the worst happen and your mother and I die here, just know that we love you with everything we are."

Taking a deep breath as to stop from bursting into tears, Damon approached the others who stood by Alaric's Volvo. Damon attempted to ignore the pitying looks on their faces as he passed his daughter into Alaric's waiting arms as the others looked at the baby, studying her. Jamie looked up at her with an assessing look from where he stood on the ground.

"She looks all wrinkly." Jamie decided.

"You looked the same way Jimmy-Jam when you were born." Haley told her son with a slight smile.

"Take care of her four me Ric." Damon ordered his best friend.

"I will, you can count on me," Alaric told Damon firmly as he looked at the baby in his arms protectively, "what's her name?"

"Anna, her name is Anna-Marie Salvatore." Damon announced and Stefan looked at him with recognition.

"Marie…like Mary…like mom." Stefan said softly.

"Yeah." Damon nodded seemingly forgetting his issues with his brother for the moment.

"I'll take care of her Damon, I promise." Alaric told him as he put Anna-Marie in her car seat before shutting the door.

It took everything in Damon not to wrench open the door and take his daughter back in his arms as Alaric opened the driver's side door. Before getting in, Alaric looked back at Damon and the two Vampires shared an understanding look before Alaric got in and closed the door. The car started and a second later it rode with the other Volvos followed before they all went in different directions.

Damon thought he had known heart break when his mother died, when he found out Katherine had never loved him, when Peyton had been sucked into a vortex, when Elena had chosen Stefan over him…but he was wrong. Nothing compared to the torturous pain in his heart as he watched his daughter being driven away from him. Feeling something wrap around his right leg, Damon looked down and saw Jamie hugging his leg. Jamie glanced up at Damon with a comforting smile.

"Don't worry Uncle Damon; you'll see my cousin again." Jamie said confidently.

"I hope so kid, I hope so." Damon muttered.

Julian's Lair

10:02 A.M.

Julian stood at the front of his army of Witches with a smirk. His army were all nervous, as they should be. Julian had gathered his army by looking for two key traits in his solders: a lust for power and a fear of him.

"The time has come, the child of light and darkness has been born," Julian said as his voice vibrated throughout the room, "Damon Salvatore has placed a cloaking spell on the child, so spread out, and search everywhere until we find it, I want that child dead!"

Almost before he had finished speaking, the Witches had dispersed, sprinting out the room. All but one, who stood calmly in the room with his hood still up. Julian raised an eyebrow at him before approaching.

"Something you wish to say?" Julian inquired.

"If I may sir, why do you hate Damon Salvatore so much?" Julian's follower asked.

_Damon and Peyton's house, November 12__th_

_8:09 A.M._

_Julian came to with a groan. His arms were suspended by two hunter's traps attacked to two chains hanging from the ceiling, dried blood was on his chin, and he ached all over from the various wounds on his body. It took him a moment to remember where he was and why he was there: after he had sent Peyton through the time portal, Damon had knocked him out and taken back to his and Peyton's house. Once Julian had woken up, Damon taken him to this room, which Damon had had Brooke prepare months ago so they could hold Julian if they ever captured him so he couldn't access his magic, and proceeded to torture him in the most brutal, not lethal ways possible._

_Hearing door open with a creaking sound, Julian lifted his head up with great difficulty. Damon closed the door behind him with one hand and a butcher knife in the other. Damon walked over to Julian, a dark look in his eyes greater than that of a war veteran. Julian did nothing except wait for Damon to do something, knowing that he could do nothing to stop him. _

"_I was gonna turn her you know," Damon mentioned casually as he circled Julian like a shark circling it's pray, "we were going to be together forever…but then you killed her."_

_Without warning, Damon turned and drove the knife threw Julian's arm. Julian groaned in pain as he felt the sharp steel go through his skin before howling in pain as Damon pulled the knife back out. Damon eyed the blood on the knife before placing the knife against Julian's throat._

"_You killed my wife, so I decided to make you feel a physical manifestation of my pain. However, I've decided that you have felt what I feel and must pay…with tour life." Damon said before Julian felt something across the throat and everything went black._

"He killed me." Julian told the Warlock before he walked out of the room.

Matt and Luke's car

10:11 A.M.

Matt was driving the car with Luke in the passenger seat with an awkward silence between them. Really, what could you say to the guy who cost your best friend the love of her life then supplied her with herbs that allowed her to hallucinate him? Not exactly a great conversation starter, is it?

"So…does Tyler really like my sister?" Luke asked suddenly looking over at Matt.

"Oh yeah, does Liv like him back?" Matt inquired out of curiosity.

"Yeah, she doesn't want to admit it cause of the whole 'werewolf rage' thing." Luke told him snickering.

"Well Tyler has a way of growing on ya." Matt said with a grin on his face.

"So…what about you, you interested in anyone?" Luke asked sounding genuinely interested.

"Are you trying to make small talk?" Matt asked sounding amused.

"Who better to ask than someone who won't judge?" Luke shrugged.

"Well, in life time I've been involved with four women: one dumped me after her parents died then became involved in a love triangle with two Vampire brothers, one turned into a Vampire then left me for Tyler, and one was a Vampire who died after Tyler bite her when he was still a Hybrid." Matt listed to the Warlock.

"I can't help but notice that you said four and only listed three." Luke pointed out.

"Number four is…complicated." Matt said as his mind filled with images of a fiery blonde with blue eyes.

"I'm helping The Vampire who I prevented from coming back to life four months who I honestly thought would kill me when he came back. I think I'm living the definition of complicated, try me." Luke egged him on.

"She's…a bitch, I', pretty sure she invented the term." Matt said as memories filled his mind.

"_Matt look out!" Elena cried as he swerved in an attempt to avoid Rebekah who was standing in the middle of the road._

"_Hey, where is Mr. Saltzman? Oh that's right I killed him." Rebekah said as she smiled maliciously at Elena._

"She had to be more than a bitch if it's complicated." Luke said.

"She has a softer side." Matt admitted.

"_You're everything I want to be."_

"_Anyone who leaves you behind is a fool, I wouldn't."_

"_I want someone who loves me enough to stand outside my window with a stupid boom box." _

"_The first rule of truly living, do what you're most afraid of."_

"_I want to be human."_

"Then what's the problem?" Luke asked not seeing it.

"Her name is Rebekah Mikaelson." Matt said and waited for Luke to understand.

"Wait…you mean she's…" Luke trailed off.

"I mean she's a Vampire…and Klaus's sister." Matt told him.

Charleston hospital,

10:19 A.M.

"Okay, you stay here and help Brooke protect Peyton while the rest of us make sure The Scotts and Larry get to a safe place." Damon ordered Elena.

They were talking behind staircase by the lobby. Everyone had been planning ever since Alaric and the others had taken Anna-Marie to a safe house. Eventually, it had been decided that Elena and Brooke would stay here to keep guard on Peyton while Damon would take the others to make sure that The Scotts and his father-in-law reached safe transport to the safe location that Damon had set up for them.

"I know we already went over this a dozen times." Elena muttered beginning to get annoyed.

"Good, then I'll see you soon." Damon turned to leave but Elena grabbed his wrists.

"Damon…we need to talk." Elena said pleadingly.

"There's nothing to talk about." Damon said not turning to face her.

"Damon…please." Elena pleaded brokenly.

Damon briefly complicated using his strength to wrench his hand away, but decided against it, no matter how mad he was at her, he would never hurt her. Damon turned and for the first in months, he looked into Elena Gilbert's doe eyes. For a few moments, neither said anything, before Damon broke the silence.

"I can understand grieving, I can understand pain, I can even understand rage…what I cannot understand is how you could want to erase me and everything we had." Damon told her brokenly as tears started to form in Elena's eyes.

"I thought you were dead," Elena told him in a voice just as broken as his, "I tried to grieve you the normal way, but I couldn't. Every second without you was killing me, then Luke gave me some herbs that helped me…see you, talk to you, be with you."

"Wait, you were using Witchy drugs, to hallucinate me?" Damon demanded sounding concerned and angry at the same time.

"It was the only thing that got me through the day, but they made me thirsty. I would fed on people and nearly kill them without remembering it. Damon, if I had known there was even a chance I would have seen you again, I never would have even considered asking Ric to do that." Elena said as she used her hands to cup his face.

"But you did." Damon said in the broken voice again.

"And I'll never forgive myself…because I hurt you, something I promised myself I'd never do again. Damon, I love you." Elena told him passionately.

"I love you to…but I have a daughter, and a wife that I love as much as I love you." Damon said as he pulled her hands from his face and held them.

"So you're breaking up with me?" Elena asked starting to cry as her heart broke.

"No, but I need to time to figure things out…so our relationship needs to be put on hold while I figure out Julian, my daughter, and the state of my marriage." Damon told her firmly though sounding extremely conflicted.

"Okay…but know one thing: I didn't fight for you last time, I will this time. I will fight until you look me in the eye and tell me you don't love me." Elena promised him somberly.

Elena suddenly found herself pressed against the wall, being kissed by Damon as though this would be their last kiss. Taking advantage of the moment, Elena wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him as passionately as he was kissing her. This was what she had been missing for four months, what she had needed. They were so caught up in their kiss that they didn't notice Haley around watching shocked and appalled before she turn back around and walked away as Damon pulled back and cupped Elena's cheeks.

"Never think that I don't love you," Damon told her softly, "I'll be back, then we'll go home, well to Whitmore, and I'll try and figure things out from there."

**So, what do you guys think? Some feedback would be greatly appreciated. **


	7. Danger is everywhere

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Luna and Anna-Marie Salvatore.**

**A little Christmas present from me to you, on with the story!**

Car, en route to Charleston pier, September 9th

11:06 A.M.

The tension in the car was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Caroline, Nathan, and Jamie all squirmed as Haley stared at the back of Damon's head so hard that they were surprised that holes weren't being burned into his skull. Damon, for his part, seemed unaware of the tense atmosphere or Haley's apparent anger, as he simply stared a head at the road as he drove. Sitting next to him, Caroline glanced back at Nathan and gaze him a questioning look. Nathan from his spot next to his seething wife discreetly mouthed 'I don't know' to the blonde Vampire. Finally, Damon spoke up and addressed the issue.

"Is something bothering you Haley?" Damon asked like he was asking about the weather.

"Yeah: you kissed Elena that is what's bothering me." Haley snapped as Caroline whipped her head towards her Sire.

"You kissed Elena?" Caroline asked, although she sounded surprised not angry unlike the other female.

"Well, that is what couples do blondie." Damon quipped good naturally.

"So you and Elena are still together?" Nathan asked, simply curious not angry unlike his wife.

"As of this moment…kind of." Damon told his human friend.

"Damon, you just got your wife back and you go and kiss Elena? What the hell are you thinking?" Haley hissed at him.

"I'm thinking that I spent fifteen years thinking my was dead," Damon finally lost his temper as he snarled at her through the rearview mirror, "I'm thinking that during those fifteen years, I fell in love with and began a relationship with a beautiful, kind, compassionate, and loving woman named Elena Gilbert. I'm thinking that I'm now torn between the two greatest loves of my life and am in one of the strangest love triangles I've ever seen…and this is coming from the guy who fell in love with his brother's girl, twice."

"You have issues man." Nathan told his friend bluntly.

"Tell me something I don't know. Anyway, you of all people have no room to tell me who I can kiss Haley." Damon told her as Haley and Nathan tensed as Caroline and Jamie looked confused.

"Don't go there Damon." Haley warned as Nathan glanced at Jamie pointedly.

"Sorry Nate, but she started this. Tell me Hales, exactly how long did you spend thinking Nathan had died when you kissed Chris Keller." Damon snapped as Caroline realized what had the elder Scotts so tense while Jamie simply looked more confused.

"Damon-"

"Shut up Haley." Damon told her as he began looking out his window.

"Don't you dare tell me to-" Haley said only for Damon to hold up his right hand in a gesture for her to stop.

"Haley, be quiet." Damon ordered and it was only then the other occupants of the car noticed how tense he was.

"Damon, what's wrong?" Caroline asked as she noticed how his eyes seemed to be glued to his window.

"I think we have company of the supernatural kind," Damon said as he finally spotted a cloaked figure on top the roof of a coffee shop, "and I was right."

The figure lifted his hand and made a whooshing motion. Suddenly, the car flipped over on the road. The car rolled over a few times until it landed in a ditch, the wheels turning slowly before stopping.

Charleston hospital

11:08 A.M.

Peyton was watching some romantic comedy that she was only half paying attention to with Brooke sitting in the chair next to her. Elena was standing outside by the door, a solitary presence compared to the obvious bond between Brooke and Peyton. Brooke looked over at Peyton; taking in her friend's tear stained face and took the Blonde's hand in her own as she gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Are you hungry?" Brooke asked her friend but only got a nod in response, "do you want anything in particular from the cafeteria?"

Peyton only shook her head in answer. Giving Peyton's hand one final squeeze, Brooke stood up and walked over to the door, hesitating before she opened the door. She leaned close to Elena and began speaking to her in a whisper, though Elena could have heard her anyway.

"Go talk to her, I think that you two have some things to discuss, or rather one thing." Brooke told her pointedly before she walked out.

Elena took a deep breath before she walked over to the bed. Peyton looked over at her, wiping her tears as Elena sat in the chair that had previously occupied by Brooke. Elena could help but notice how Peyton's expression changed from emotional and vulnerable to confident and strong almost instantly. She could see why Damon had been so taken with her back in 1997.

"I'm Elena." Elena introduced herself politely.

"I know who you are, you're just as Damon described you," Peyton said as she looked the Vampire up and down assessing, "so you're my husband's girlfriend."

"So you're my boyfriend's wife." Elena shot back causing Peyton to laugh.

"Pretty, kind, funny, and witty, I see why Damon loves you…I was hoping you'd be a bitch so I could hate, but I like you damn it." Peyton sounded furious with the fact.

"Sorry," Elena apologized as she smothered a grin, "if it makes you feel better, I was hoping the same thing."

"I hope you know that I have no intention of just handing my husband over." Peyton warned.

"I hope you know I have no intention of just standing aside and just letting him go," Elena told Peyton, "I already told him that I will fight for him until the moment he looks me in eye and tells me he doesn't love me."

"That's something he'll never do, he loves you as much as he loves me. When all this is said and done, Damon will choose the one he can't imagine having a life without." Peyton told her matter of factly.

"You seem awfully calm about this." Elena noted a little concerned.

"Last night I wasn't," Peyton laughed at the irony of the situation, "but I realized that for me it may have been only eight months, it had been fifteen years for Damon. If there's one thing I know about Damon, it's that he always follows his heart. I would love nothing more than for his heart to lead him to me, but if it leads him to you...well, I just want him to be happy. My only demand is that I will still have a place in my daughter's life." Peyton said sternly.

"I would never try and take your daughter away from you." Elena promised her sincerely.

"And I believe you…so, may the best woman win." Peyton said as she held out her hand for Elena to shake.

"May the best woman win." Elena repeated as the two women shook on it.

Down in the cafeteria, Brooke had gotten a tray of food for Peyton and was about to head back up to the room when she noticed something odd. Everyone in the cafeteria was passed out on the tables, asleep. Turning around, Brooke saw the servers slumped over the food, asleep. With a feeling of horror, Brooke dropped the tray of food and ran out of the cafeteria. Pulling out her phone, Brooke dialed Elena's number as she sprinted down the hall.

"Brooke?" Elena answered sounding confused.

"One of Julian's cronies is in the hospital." Brooke told her as she looked down the hallway.

"What makes you think that?" Elena asked fear for Peyton's safety entering her voice.

"Everyone besides the three of us is asleep in this hospital," Brooke as she walk into the front desk to see everyone passed out, "it's called the sleeping spell, it puts everyone who isn't a Witch or Vampire within a mile radius to sleep."

"Then why is Peyton still awake?" Elena asked as she and Peyton exchanged a startled glance.

"I guess that they want her awake when they take her." Brooke said as she ran down the hall way and over to the stairs.

Brooke tried to go up the stairs, but just as she reached them, she ran into an invisible barrier. Brooke went flying back a few feet with an "oof!" as she lost her phone. As she lands painfully on her back, her phone slides across the floor. Sitting up, Brooke holds her hand out and her phone flies into it.

"Someone's put up a barrier on the stairs and probably the elevators to." Brooke said as she stands back up.

"So you're trapped down there?" Elena asked worried for the Witch.

"For the time being, I'll be able to break this soon. Protect Peyton." Brooke ordered before hanging up.

With Damon's group

11:09 A.M.

Damon groaned as he looked around. He was unharmed, as was Caroline, though the Blonde Vampire seemed stunned by what had happened. He looked at the rearview mirror to see that his human friends were mostly unharmed, though very shaken. Damon looked out his window to his the cloaked Warlock approaching.

"Caroline, you get them out, I'll deal with Voldemort." Damon ordered as he unbuckled.

Using his Vampire strength, Damon pushed out his door and rolled out of the car. Damon stood up and stalked over to the Warlock menacingly. Before either of them could do anything, a black truck pulled up to the side of the road. Damon and the Warlock didn't break their stare down as a man in his early thirties got out and looked at the flipped car and the two individuals warily.

"Is there a problem here fellas?" the man asked.

"No problem sir, we were just getting help from my friend here." Damon said hoping for this guy's own safety he would leave.

Apparently having lost patience, the cloaked man made a motion with his hands and the human male suddenly gasped as his neck turned to one side with a cracking sound. As the corpse fell to the ground, Damon tackled the Warlock to the ground. The wrestled on the ground for a bit before Damon felt an agonizing pain in his head. Damon stopped struggling as he grabbed his head, letting out a groan. The Warlock moved to attack Damon when the Vampire suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his hands around the Warlock's neck before he snapped it. As the Warlock's body fell in front of him, Damon stood up with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Who knew all those times getting brain-zapped would come in handy?" Damon asked himself rhetorically.

"Uncle Damon, help!"

At the sound of his godson's voice, Damon blurred down to the car. A crying Jamie was holding on to Haley as Caroline helped Nathan on to the ground. Nathan hissed as he clutched his left leg which was bent an unnatural angle. Cursing under his breath, Damon blurred over to his human friend and knelt down to examine Nathan's leg.

"Your leg's definitely broken," Damon diagnosed with a frown, "come on, Larry's house isn't far from here, he'll have medical supplies that we can use to patch up your leg."

"Why don't we just give him our blood?" Caroline asked him curiously.

"Because our blood heals wounds, but it doesn't reconnect bones." Damon told her as he helped Nathan stand.

"How are we gonna get there, the car is totaled?" Nathan asked as Damon began to lead them out of the ditch.

"Well, I recently came into a little inheritance." Damon said as Nathan spotted the black truck.

Enzo and Luna's car

11:23 A.M.

The car was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Enzo was driving as Luna leaned against her window, looking like she was miles away. Enzo glanced over at her, a glimmer of concern in his eyes.

"So what's on your mind that you're thinking so hard about?" Enzo inquired curiously.

"Why do you ask, you don't even know me?" Luna asked as she turned to face him with a raised eyebrow.

"After listening to Damon talk about you for five years, I feel like I do know you." Enzo admitted causing Luna to let out a small smile.

"Fair enough," Luna nodded before telling him what was on her mind, "when Brooke was telling you about the Prophecy of Light and Darkness, she left something out, something big."

"Why did she leave it out?" Enzo asked wondering why the Witch Queen would leave out a detail that had Luna so edge.

"probably because she didn't discord in our group when we had to get out of there," Luna told him and he nodded in understanding though he was even more curious of what detail Brooke had failed to mention, "according to the Prophecy, the creature of Darkness that fathers the child, who we now know is Damon, will have a close bond with a male individual, either a familial bond or a bond of friendship."

"Like a brother?" Enzo asked as his thoughts drifted to Stefan.

"It is never clear if it's a brother or a friend, but it could be Stefan," Luna agreed knowing where his thoughts were headed, "anyway, according to the prophecy, that Male will eventually give Damon the ultimate betrayal."

"If it is Stefan, and I'm not saying that it is, didn't he already do that by giving up on Damon?" Enzo asked.

"The betrayal is supposed to happen after the child is born." Luna told him.

"Well then…I guess it's become our mission to make sure Damon never forgives Stefan." Enzo said casually causing Luna to turn to him surprised.

"You'd really do that for my brother?" Luna asked in disbelief.

"A soldier never turns his back on a brother." Enzo told her earnestly causing her to smile at him.

Charleston hospital

11:25 A.M.

A cloaked man was walking down the hall with purpose in his step. He approached room 237 with a growing sense of smug satisfaction. He turned to walk inside the room and take Peyton only to be stunned by the empty room. Around the corner, Elena blurred Peyton away as they heard the Warlock let out a mighty roar of rage.

Charleston

11:27 A.M.

Damon parked the car in front of a rather spacious house. Damon and his friends got out the truck and walked towards the front door, with Caroline and Haley helping Nathan to the door. As they wondered if Damon had a key or not, Damon put his hand on the knob, turned it and they all heard a loud click. Damon pushed open the door and walked in the door as they followed him.

"You realize you just broke into your father-in-law's house right?" Caroline asked him for Clarification.

"No time to be polite about this Blondie, we only have an hour before we have to be at the docks, and we have a half hour drive to go still," Damon told her as he spotted a couch, "set Nate down over there."

Haley and Caroline quickly moved forward and placed Nathan gently on the couch. Nathan grimaced as his broken leg bumped against the couch. Haley sat down next to him while Damon started walking out of the room, gesturing for Caroline to follow him. Caroline followed him out of the room and he led her down a stairwell into a huge room. As Damon flipped the lights on, Caroline gapped at what she saw. It looked like the Taj mahal of medical supplies, everything you could possibly need to run a small overnight hospital.

"What is all this stuff doing down here?" Caroline asked as she looked around in bewilderment.

"Larry thought that if Brooke was ever in town, injured 'cause of Witch business, he'd have medical supplies so she could get help and avoid the questions," Damon said as he walked around the room looking for something, "find a pair of crutches, I'll find a splint."

At Vampire speed, Damon and Caroline blurred around the room looking for their items. Damon found a splint as Caroline picked up a pair of crutches leaning against the wall. As Caroline moved to walk out of the room, Damon suddenly blurred in front of her, his back to her as he held his arm in front of the doorway, blocking her path. Caroline jumped back in surprise, looking at Damon in stunned confusion, but he still wouldn't look at her.

"I never apologized to you…for what I did to you when I first came to Mystic Falls." Damon said still refusing to look at her his voice giving a hint of guilt.

Damon's statement caused her to pause. Damon Salvatore was not someone who apologized, even when he did feel genuine remorse. His apology was even more surprising because it was something that had happened almost three years ago, when Damon had first come to Mystic Falls while his humanity was off. Still, it would be nice to get an apology for all the crappy things he had done to her while they were together, for lack of a better word.

"Well, let's hear it then." Caroline said as she waited for her apology.

"I can't," Damon said as she looked at him confused, "and it's not because I don't regret what I did, because I do. But…if I start with you, then I'll have to keep apologizing for every terrible thing I've ever done and I will fall apart over reliving every terrible thing I've done. And I cannot afford to fall apart with Julian running around after painting a target on my daughter's back. I just want you to know that I do regret what I did."

"Why are you bringing this up after three years?" Caroline asked genuinely curious as she found herself almost willing to forgive him.

"Because of my daughter…I have to be a better man for her, so I can be the father that she deserves." Damon admitted softly.

"The lengths you've gone to in order to protect her and your friends shows that you already are the father she deserves." Caroline said softly as she finally was able to forgive this man.

Damon didn't respond as they walked out of the room.

Charleston Hospital

12:15 P.M.

Elena and Peyton waited inside an empty hospital room, hearts hammering in their chests. Elena would have preferred to just go out there and kill Julian's lackey, but she had to think of Peyton's safety. In addition to being Damon's wife, Elena knew what it was like to miss your mother. Also, despite Peyton being the one keeping her from her soulmate, Elena genuinely liked Peyton.

Suddenly, the door of the room they were in bust open. As Elena took a protective stance in front of Peyton, the cloaked man stepped in to the room. With a chuckle, he pulled off his hood to reveal a blond, Caucasian man with blue-eyes in his mid-thirties with a weak beard. Behind Elena, Peyton let out a startled gasp.

"Ian?" Peyton asked as she took a step back in shock and fear.

"You know him?" Elena asked never tearing her gaze from Ian.

"In my senior year I found out I was adopted and that I had a half-brother. I had a webcast and I reached out to my viewers for support. He was a psycho obsessed Stalker and showed up at my house pretending to be my brother," Peyton explained and Elena stiffened, "eventually, my boyfriend at the time, Nathan's brother Lucas, figured it out and attacked me at my home. He was sent to jail and charged with stalking, assault, attempted rape, and destruction of Private property."

"You always were a tease." Ian said with an insane grin.

"How did you end up apart of Julian's crusade to destroy Damon?" Peyton asked as she glared at him.

"Not long after you left him for Damon, Julian discovered I was from a line of Witches and busted me out of jail. He spent the year teaching me and I've spent the last fifteen years preparing for this moment: the moment where you will be mine again." Ian vowed with a sadistic grin.

"I was never yours." Peyton sneered.

"You're not gonna touch her." Elena snarled as she lunged for him with Vampire features visible. Ian simply smiled and waved his left hand towards the wall. Just before she reached him, Elena was suddenly thrown into the wall and pinned there by an invisible force. As much as Elena struggled, it was useless. Ian watched her struggle amused as he walked over to Peyton who backed away.

"Elena Gilbert and Peyton Sawyer, the two greatest loves of Damon Salvatore's life. This is a lot of leverage, but before I take the two of you to Julian, I'm gonna have some fun." Ian said with a twisted grin.

Realizing what he was talking about, Peyton tried to jump over the bed to escape but Julian used his magic to pull her back, slowly to draw it out. Spotting a plastic butter knife on a table close to her, Elena tried to itch her hand down to grab it. As her hand neared the table, Ian used his magic to make the levitating Peyton turned and face him, looking completely terrified. As Ian grabbed Peyton's chin, Elena picked up the knife. As Ian leaned down to Kiss Peyton, Elena threw the butter knife with all her strength and the Warlock let out a howl of pain as it went through his shoulder.

Ian's magic was broken as Peyton fell to the floor and Elena was no longer pinned to the wall. Elena blurred over and lifted Ian up by his neck, choking. As her fingers began digging into his throat, Elena felt the familiar pain her head. She dropped him as she fell to her knees. As Elena put her hands to her head, crying out, Ian stood scowling.

"You know, I was going to take you Julian, but now I'm just gonna kill you." Ian growled.

As Ian raised his hand to finish her, He was suddenly hit in the face with a metal food tray. As he fell to the floor unconscious Elena looked up to see Peyton holding the tray. Peyton threw down the tray and held her hand out to Elena. Elena took her hand gratefully as the human helped up.

"Thanks." Elena said gratefully.

"Right back at you." Peyton said.

"Well isn't this touching?" Brooke asked as she walked into the room before looking down at the unconscious Warlock, "Ian Banks, go figure."

"How long until everyone under Ian's spell wakes up?" Peyton asked curiously.

"It's a powerful spell, so I'd say around twenty to twenty five minutes." Brooke deduced.

"You two get him down to the car, I'll erase the security tapes of what happened the last hour." Elena ordered.

Charleston Docks

12:23 P.M.

"Ian Banks?" Damon asked Brooke on his cell phone bewildered.

"Julian apparently has no standards when it comes to his recruits. I have him tied up in the back, he'll be no match for me if he wakes." Brooke said smugly.

"Of that I have no doubt, Queen Wicked Witch. Take him to Larry's house, we'll be there as soon as we can." Damon ordered as he hung up.

Damon pocketed his phone and walked back over to the blue car they had Damon had compelled some sucker into giving him after ditching the truck. Caroline and Haley were leaning against the car, Jamie holding his mother's hand While Nathan sits half way in the car, with his legs hanging of the seat and his crutches in leaning next to him. They all look over at Damon as he approaches.

"So apparently Peyton's psycho stalker is a Warlock that Julian recruited to attack Peyton again. Thankfully, Elena and Peyton stopped him." Damon explained.

"Wait, Ian Banks is a Warlock?" Nathan stunned.

"That was my reaction to." Damon nodded.

"Damon, I owe you an apology," Haley said as Damon turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "you're right, it's been fifteen years and it's unfair of me to expect you to toss Elena aside just because Peyton's back."

"Well, I'm glad you got over yourself then," Damon said curtly as he and Caroline heard the roar of a car approach, "it looks like the others are here."

The group of five turned around to see a black Volvo drive up to them. It pulled to a stop before Stefan, Jeremy, Bonnie, and Larry pilled out of the car. As they approached the other group, they all noticed the change in vehicles and glanced at Damon.

"The car you left in wasn't good enough for you then?" Jeremy asked with a grin.

"Well that car was trashed when a Warlock sent us into a ditch and I thought it might be suspicious if we showed up in the car of a dead guy, so I ditched the car a couple miles back and compelled some loser at a gas station to give me his car then forget about it." Damon snapped.

"I assume that's why Nathan's leg is broken." Stefan said as he eyed the splint on Nathan's leg.

"Did you figure that out all by yourself?" Nathan asked as he glared at the Salvatore he liked the least.

"You don't like me do you?" Stefan asked knowingly.

"I've heard enough stories from Damon and Luna. The fact that you gave up on Damon after only a few months hasn't endeared me to you." Nathan said as he glared at the Vampire.

"Leave him alone Stefan. In the eight months Peyton and I were together, Nate was more of a brother to me than you've been in a long," Damon's words cut into Stefan's heart like knives, "anyway, guys, your transportation's here."

Everyone turned out towards the ocean to see a ship approaching. It was no Titanic, but it was big enough that they didn't worry that it wouldn't get them to where they wanted to go. It was in fine condition as well, it looked like it was brand new. Everyone eyed it appreciatively as it approached the docks.

"How'd you arrange this anyway?" Bonnie asked Damon curiously.

"Let's just I made a call to a friend…or rather, we made a call to a friend." Damon smirked as Caroline giggled softly.

Everyone watched in confusion as the Ship docked and the ramp lowered. As someone walked down the ramp, every supernatural being but Damon and Caroline stepped back in a horrified shock. As the human's looked at their Supernatural companions in confused, Damon snickered, Caroline's giggle became a full-blown laughing fest, and the man on the ramp smirked.

"You asked him help? Don't you remember everything he's done?!" Jeremy demanded as he whirled on Damon.

"No more than Stefan's done, yet you don't seem to have a problem with him." Damon mentioned dryly.

"I see you two didn't mention that it was me that was coming." Klaus said as he approached the group.

"I knew they'd react this way…and I thought it'd be more fun this way. I was right!" Damon said with a grin.

"So who's your friend Damon?" Larry asked as he eyed Klaus suspiciously.

"Everyone, this is Klaus Mikaelson. Klaus, these are my friends Nathan, Haley, there son Jamie, and Larry Sawyer." Damon introduced.

"Charmed, I'm sure," Klaus said before turning his attention to Damon, "so Damon, I hear you've become a father."

"How do you know that?" Damon demanded as the atmosphere immediately tensed.

"Word travels fast in the Witch community, word of your child has already reached New Orleans," Klaus said before raising his hands in a peace making gesture, "I know what you are thinking, but your child has nothing to fear from me Damon, either from me attacking it or trying to use it as a weapon."

"And why should I trust you?" Damon demanded stiffly.

Suddenly, Klaus lunged forward and Grabbed Damon's jacket. Klaus forced Damon to look into his eyes and suddenly Damon was no longer on the dock. He was in a dark crypt of some lit by torches. Klaus and Elijah were there was also Tyler's former friend Hayley, as well some women that Damon didn't recognize. Most likely they were Witches.

"Niklaus…the girl is carrying your child." Elijah said slowly and carefully.

"No…it's impossible," Klaus denied after a moment, "Vampires cannot procreate!"

"But Werewolves can," one of the Witches pointed out, "Magic made you a Vampire, but you were born a Werewolf and this child is one of Nature's Loopholes."

The scene changed and Damon found himself in a nursery. Haley was sitting in a rocking chair, her pregnancy having progressed to the point that Damon thought she would give birth soon. Klaus stood in the doorway when Hayley's hand went down to her stomach. Klaus seemed to get concerned and stepped farther into the room.

"Do you wanna…?" Hayley trailed off as she gestured for Klaus to come over.

A little hesitant, Klaus kneeled down and gently placed his hand on her swollen stomach. After a moment, an amazed smile spread across Klaus's face as he felt the baby kick. Damon studied Klaus, the Hybrid seemed genuinely happy for the first time since Damon had known him. Before Damon could reflect on this further, the scene changed again.

They were still in the nursery, Klaus and Elijah sitting in chairs opposite each other while Hayley held a baby rocking back and forth as she listened to Klaus and Elijah talk. Damon began to pay attention to the conversation as he realized that Klaus was showing him something important.

"We should have known that our mother would never be bound by something as obvious as death," Klaus said in an agitated voice, "and now she has control over the ancestors. Nor will I expect the Guerra Wolves to Bow down to Hayley and the baby as they are Werewolf royalty, they are a threat to Francesca's leadership, they will never be safe."

"I know." Elijah said in a solemn voice.

"What was it you said to me earlier, that I have made enemies every day of my miserable life? Well the worst of them are in these borders brother," Klaus pointed out as Elijah sighed, "I have brought into the world a weapon that they can use against me."

"Then we will arm ourselves; fight them until we have won, no matter who they are. And then we will fight them again, we will make this home a fortress." Elijah said determined.

"I will not have her live her life as a prisoner." Klaus disagreed.

"Then we will leave here, all of us." Elijah suggested.

"Wherever we go, wherever we run, those who seek power and revenge will hunt us, they will hunt her. She has inherited all of our enemies and none of our defenses." Klaus told his older brother.

"So whether we stay or we leave we condemn her." Elijah said frustrated.

"There is a third option," Hayley said as she walked over to the brothers, "I grew up in a war zone, but in the end they were slaughtered and I spent my childhood alone and unloved. I made a promise to my baby and myself that she would not grow up like I did. That she would grow up safe and loved…and yet here she is on her first day in this world with a grandmother bend on killing her and a mother who has to drink the blood of her baby to survive by transitioning into a Hybrid. I think the only safe thing to do is send her away while we stay behind and clean up the mess we made."

Klaus sunk into his chair in resigned acceptance while Elijah leapt to his feet in stunned outrage.

"This is insane. You heard Genevieve; as long as she lives she will be hunted!" Elijah shouted.

"What if no one knows she lives?" Klaus suggested as he rose to his feet.

"What is it you intend to do brother?" Elijah asked.

"Whatever it takes to save our family." Klaus declared.

The scene changed again to Klaus holding his daughter as he stood in a field outside of town at night. Klaus stood outside his car as the headlights of an upcoming vehicle shined on him. Klaus and Damon looked over as a red sports car drove and pulled to a stop and the driver got out. Rebekah walked to Klaus and the two siblings looked down at the baby.

"Hello sister." Klaus said with a smile.

"She looks like her mother, maybe there is a god after all." Rebekah mused.

"There's a hint of the devil in her eyes, that's all me." Klaus said as the two Mikaelsons shared a smile before there expressions turned serious, "you need a Witch you can trust to cast a cloaking spell, no one can ever find her."

"I know what to do Nik, she assured him, "she assured him, "perhaps we'll get a white fence that will be lovely."

"This city would have seen you dead, but I will have it your home," Klaus promised his daughter, "every soul who wishes you harm will be struck down as surely as my blood runs in your veins. You will return to me."

Klaus pressed his lips to his daughter's forehead before he handed her to Rebekah like she was fine China. Klaus then handed Rebekah a wooden knight. Damon didn't know what was so special about it, but it seemed import as Rebekah looked at it stunned before looking at Klaus shock written on her face.

"Despite our differences, there is no one I would trust more with my brother's life." Klaus told her sincerely before he grabbed his sister in a hug, "be happy, sister."

"She will be happy Nik I promise," Rebekah told him, "what's her name?"

"Hope, her name is Hope."

There was a flash of light and Damon found himself back on the docks. Klaus let go of him and stepped back as Damon absorbed what had happened. Rebekah was on the run with Klaus's daughter, who was being targeted by the spirits of Witches, led by Esther. According to the prophecy, if Anna-Marie lived she would bring peace between Vampires and Witches, which would give Klaus his daughter back.

"So, I believe we have an agreement," Klaus said as he held out his hand for Damon to shake, "I keep your friends and their location secret…."

"And I keep your secret." Damon said as he took Klaus's hand and they shook on it.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked Damon as he eyed Klaus suspiciously.

"Sorry Stefan, unlike you I don't stab my friends in the back whenever it's convenient to me." Damon said bitingly as Stefan winced.

"Say your goodbyes and let's get going, I'm on a tight schedule." Klaus said irritably.

Damon nodded at the Hybrid before walking over to his father-in-law. It suddenly occurred to Damon that throughout his long life, as a human and as a Vampire, Larry Sawyer had been the closest thing he had ever had to a father. Larry had always treated him like a son since the moment he and Peyton had started dating.

"You'll take care of my daughter won't ya?" Larry asks unnecessarily.

"You know I will." Damon said before the two men embraced.

The two men hugged for a few moments before they let go of each other. Damon felt something attach itself to his leg and glanced down to see Jamie had latched himself on to his leg. Chuckling, Damon gently but firmly pulled Jamie off of his leg and set him on the ground. Damon knelt down and placed his hands on Jamie's shoulders comfortingly.

"I don't wanna go; I wanna stay here with you Uncle Damon!" Jamie cried.

"It's too dangerous right now Jamie. Tell you what though, when you get back, I'll take you to an amusement park, just you and me." Damon promised.

"You promised?" Jamie asked hopefully.

"Have I ever broken a promise to you J-Luke?" Damon asked with a smirk.

Smiling, Jamie hugged Damon like he'd never see him again. Chuckling, Damon returned the hug before setting his Godson on the ground. Damon stood up and walked over to Nathan who was on his crutches. Nathan and Damon hug as best they can with Nathan on crutches. Chuckling, the two dark haired men with blue eyes step back.

"Once all this is over, we'll all get together for dinner one night." Damon promised.

"It'll be just like old times." Nathan smiled.

"Except better." Damon smirked.

Damon walked over to Haley and the two of them embraced, not couple like, but like two old friends. As they stepped back from each other, Haley dug through her pocket and pulled something out of her pocket. As Haley held out her hand to Damon, he was stunned to see that it was his wedding ring.

"I know you don't know where your relationship stands with Peyton, but I thought you might want to hold on to this…just in case you choose her." Haley suggested hopefully.

Damon stands still for a moment, simply staring at the ring with a blank expression as everyone stared at him. After a few tense moments, Damon reached forward and gently folded Haley's fingers back so they wrapped around the ring. Haley looked at him with something akin to disappointment as he steps back with a slight smile.

"The Damon that wore that ring and promised to love Peyton forever was a different Damon. He was a Damon that had never known true heart break, something I've become all too familiar with in recent years. Before I can even think about putting that ring on again, I need to figure out my feelings for Peyton and Elena." Damon explained.

"Now that you ladies have had your heart-to-heart, can we go?" Klaus ordered in annoyance.

Larry's house

1:03 P.M.

Ian groaned as he regained conscious. He was tied to a chair with his hands chained to the arm rests. Hearing the door open, he looked up to a man in a leather jacket and black clothes with dark black hair and sky blue eyes walk in before closing the door. The man gave him a menacing smile as he walked over, making Ian nervous.

"You must be Ian, I'm Damon and you and I need to have a chat." Damon said with a dark smile.

Virginia, not far from Whitmore College

5:15 P.M.

Alaric pulled up to the house with Enzo and Luna right behind him. The others had gone back to Whitmore, seeing their jobs as being done. Alaric turned the car off and glanced back at the sleeping Anna-Marie. Smiling, Alaric got out of the car before opening the door behind his and picking up the sleeping Human/Vampire Hybrid. Enzo and Luna walked up to him before they all walked up to the front porch and Luna unlocked it with Damon's key.

The trio and baby walked inside the house and looked around. Everything about it was just so…Damon. They could almost see his personality embedded in the style of the house. As Alaric and Luna looked around the house, Enzo spotted a picture and picked it up.

"Wonder why Damon bought this house." Alaric mused.

"I can think of a reason." Enzo said as he showed them a picture of Damon and Elena.

Larry's house

5:19 P.M.

"So, are you ready to talk now?" Damon asked the now bloody Ian.

"Yeah, I'll talk." Ian said weakly.

"Isn't it much better when we all agree, Now what is Julian after?" Damon demanded.

"There's this ritual that Julian wants to perform, it's supposed to make Julian the most powerful being on the planet, even more powerful than the Mikaelson family." Ian said as Damon found himself growing nervous.

"Why is after my daughter?" Damon demanded through grinding teeth.

"The most important part of the ritual is that Julian must kill a born of light and darkness." Ian told him as Damon realized where he was going with this.

"Julian wants to sacrifice my daughter so he can become all powerful." Damon realized.

"Yeah, and here's a little something for your troubles," Ian said and Damon looked at him confused, "your brother is keeping a secret from you."

"What?" Damon asked bewildered.

"Ask him about Sarah Salvatore." Ian insisted and offered no further information.

Fed up with him, Damon snapped his neck. Whipping his hands on his jeans, Damon walked out of the room and down the stairs. Damon walked into the living room and everyone stood up as he entered the room. Peyton made her way over to him to ask him what he had learned but was stunned when Damon passed her without so much of a glance. Damon made his way over to Stefan then him over to the wall and slammed Stefan against the wall, to the shock of everyone.

"Who is Sarah Salvatore?" Damon demanded.

"Damon…" Stefan trailed.

"You owe me Stefan, who is she?!" Damon shouted.

"She's Zack and Gail's daughter." Stefan admitted.

"That's…that's impossible." Damon denied stunned.

"Before she died, I took Gail to the hospital. The doctors weren't able to save Gail, but they were able to save the baby. I made sure she got adopted by a good family." Stefan told him.

"And yet you let me go on all these years, feeling guilty because I thought I had killed both of them." Damon said as anger began to take over.

"We haven't been on the best terms since then." Stefan reminded him.

"And what's your excuse for the last three years?" Damon growled and Stefan had no defense.

"Uh, want to fill in the rest of us?" Jeremy asked confused.

"Gladly Little Gilbert," Damon said without turning away from Stefan, "about three years before all the drama with Julian started; Stefan and I were living with Zack and his pregnant girlfriend, Gail, in the Salvatore boarding house. One day, Stefan locked me in the shed without my ring because he got all mad that I was feeding, not lethally might on I add, ethics be damned, on Gail. I got out and well, you guys know how humanityless Vampires are."

"You killed Gail." Caroline realized with a gasp.

"yep and the part of me that still had my humanity felt guilty about and I sure as hell feel guilty about it now, not knowing that the baby survived," Damon said as his Vampire features before to emerge, "you know Stef, I wondered how my own brother could give up on me so easily, but now I understand. You're not a brother to me, or Luna, you haven't been in a long time, so it's time to return the favor. From this moment forward, you are as dead to me as our parents."

Damon then snapped Stefan's neck and stepped back as Stefan fell to the ground. Damon turned away, his face back to normal, and walked away from him. He walked passed his stunned friend before turning to Brooke.

"Remove any evidence we were here and when he wakes up, tell Stefan he and I are done, for good. Peyton, let's go." Damon ordered before he walked away from Brooke and towards the door.

"Wait, where are we going?" Peyton asked causing Damon to turn around.

"To see our daughter."

**So, what do you guys think? Please give me some feedback, I'd like to know what you guys think.**


	8. Salvatore family reunion

**I do not own anything except Luna and Anna-Marie.**

Motel half an hour from The Whitmore college area, September 10th

7:21 A.M.

Peyton Sawyer-Salvatore opened her eyes, blinking as she did not recognize her surroundings. Looking around, she saw that he was in a hotel room with two beds. Looking down at herself, she saw that she was dressed in the same clothes that Brooke had given her yesterday morning. Looking over at the window, she saw that Damon had seated himself in a chair just out of the windows view. Able to see everyone passing the window while invisible unless they paid close attention, Peyton realized.

"Where are we Damon?" she asked as she threw the covers off her body and got up.

"You were asleep and it was late, so I decided to check us into a motel thirty minutes from the house so you'd be awake when we saw our daughter." Damon explained in a blank voice.

"Are you okay Damon?" Peyton concerned by the lack of emotion coming from her husband.

"My brother let me think I had killed my nephew's daughter for eighteen years…I'm great." Damon said with a sarcastic smile as he looked over at her.

"Damon-"

"Let's go see our daughter." Damon cut her off as he stood up.

Car, two hours behind Damon and Peyton

7:27 A.M.

"You're in a motel?" Elena asked expecting the Salvatores to be at the house already.

"We're only about half an hour from the house and I'm checking out now." Damon said as he walked over to the front desk.

"We're two and a half hours away from Whitmore and Caroline and….Stefan are behind us." Elena said not sure about how Damon will react to his brother's mere mention.

"I guess I'll see you then." Damon said nonchalantly.

"I love you Damon." Elena said softly.

"Yeah." Damon said as he glanced awkwardly at Peyton on his right before he abruptly hung up.

Elena put her phone down, staring at it stunned and hurt. That was the first time since they'd begun dating that he hadn't said 'I love you' back to her. She knew that he probably wouldn't say it with Peyton nearby, but it still hurt none the less. Bonnie, sitting next to her, put her hand on her best friend's shoulder with a comforting squeeze.

"He didn't say he loves me." Elena whispered almost to herself.

"Well, to be fair, Peyton is probably right next to him." Jeremy pointed out from the passenger seat.

"The last thing Damon is likely to focus on right now is his conflicting feelings for Peyton and Elena." Brooke pointed out knowingly hands gripping the steering wheel.

"You've known Damon for around fifteen years haven't you Brooke?" Bonnie asked the older Witch curiously.

"I met him a couple days after he and Peyton started dating," Brooke told Bonnie wistfully, "I know Vampires with no humanity are supposed to be monsters, but he didn't seem like a monster…he just seemed sad, sad and lonely."

"So, since you've known him longer than anyone else…do you think Elena has any hope of being with Damon again?"

"Bonnie!" Elena hissed indignantly.

"Sorry 'Lena but she's known Damon longer than any of us and I don't want you getting your hopes up if you don't have a chance." Bonnie said before her eyes turned to the senior Witch.

"Honestly, I don't know Bonnie. I think of Damon as one of my closest friends, but sometimes I have no idea what goes through his mind and this is one of those times. You seem like a nice person Elena and I see why Damon fell so hard for you, but I also saw how happy Damon was with Peyton, then there's the baby to think about. Honestly, if you want an answer you're just gonna have to wait for this Julian mess to blow over before Damon can sort through his feelings." Brooke explained sincerely.

Julian's lair  
>7:45 A.M.<p>

Julian sat in his office, going over reports his coven had given him. His office was fairly modest, simply a desk, chair, and a lamp in a dark, windowless room. As Julian read over one of the reports, he felt a familiar tingle run up his spine. With a smirk on his face, Julian stepped out of his desk chair and turned around before kneeling down like he was a worshipper.

Suddenly, a shadow like spectrum rose up from the ground. It began making undistinguishable sounds, although they seemed to make sense to Julian. He nodded, seeming to understand the creature as a strange light appeared in his eyes.

"Yes master." Julian said in a voice void of any emotion.

Damon's house

8:03 A.M.

Luna sat on the front porch, rocking her cooing niece in her arms. The front door opened behind her and Alaric and Enzo joined her on the front porch. The two male Vampires sat on either side of her, Enzo on her right and Alaric on her left as they both peered down at the baby. Anna-Marie seemed to like the attention, as her cooing turned into full blown laughter. The three Vampires smiled at the baby's happiness before Luna started to shirt her towards Alaric.

"Would you like to hold her?" Luna asked him kindly.

"I'm not sure that would be wise." Alaric shifted uncomfortably.

"Why not mate?" Enzo asked confused.

"Damon says you're new at being a Vampire," Luna remembered, "how are you holding up?"

"I know you guys are two people that embrace what you are, but me….I hate every part of being a Vampire." Alaric admitted.

"Believe it or not, so did Damon once." Luna revealed causing both men to look at her stunned.

"Get out." Alaric said in shock.

"It took Damon almost fifty years before he could feel comfortable in his Vampire skin," Luna revealed before she held Anna-Marie out to Alaric, "Damon started to see that being a Vampire wasn't all bad."

Still unsure, Alaric took the baby from Luna. As he settled her in his arms, Anna-Marie cooed up a t him. For the first time since becoming a Vampire, Alaric didn't feel the urge to take blood. Maybe it was because she also had Vampire blood coursing through her veins, but he had never felt the urge to feed from the baby.

As Luna and Enzo smiled at the scene, the Vampires heard the roar of an engine. They all stood up, baby still in Alaric's arms, as an unfamiliar blue car pulled into the driveway. Almost before it pulled to a stop, the passenger door opened and Peyton rushed out. As the Vampires stepped off the porch, Peyton sprinted towards them and a smiling Alaric handed Peyton her daughter.

Peyton held her daughter to her chest as tightly as she could without injuring her. After several moments, Peyton turned behind her where Damon stood almost hesitant to approach. At Peyton's inviting smile, Damon couldn't get over there fast enough. As the two new parents enjoyed being with there daughter again, Luna and the boys smiled at the family reunion. As he brushed his daughter's hair away from her cheek, Luna saw Damon have true peace for the first time in decades.

"Okay, how about I make us all some breakfast while we trade stories?" Luna suggested.

"She cooks, she takes charge, she breaks necks, is there anything that this girl cannot do?" Enzo asked memorized as he followed Luna to the door.

"I've wondered that a few times myself." Peyton told him as she followed with Anna-Marie in her arms as Damon and Alaric trailed behind.

"Are you okay buddy, you seem upset?" Alaric asked as he noticed his friend's expression.

"I found been keeping from me, I'll tell you later, but I want to thank you for taking her Anna here," Damon held up his hand when Alaric opened his mouth to speak, "I know that you would've done it for anyone, but I'm still grateful."

"So listen, I know you've got a baby to protect, so I understand if you want to keep your distance from the newbie Original." Alaric said knowing Damon had a responsibility to his daughter.

"That's actually I wanted to talk to you about," Damon said and Alaric looked at him expectantly, "how would you feel about being a god father?"

"Ar-Are you serious?" Alaric asked stunned not noticing the others going inside.

"There's no one else I'd rather have for the job." Damon told him earnestly.

"What about Stefan, Jeremy, That Nathan guy, even Enzo." Alaric listed off.

"Stefan is dead to me, Enzo is too murder happy to set a good example for her, Nate couldn't protect her like you could, and don't even get me started on little Gilbert." Damon smirked at that last one.

"Well than….I'd be honored." Alaric had nothing left to say due to Damon's arguments and the significance of the gesture.

"Then let's get inside, Uncle Ric." Damon teased as he clasped Alaric's shoulder in a brotherly manner.

Julian's lair

9:47 A.M.

What did Julian's army do when they were on break? This isn't a cartoon; they don't lounge around lazily, getting fat. They huddled together and discussed their dire situation.

"I'm telling you, Julian is crazy!" One Warlock was shouting as he waved his arms frantically, "one time when he summoned me, before I entered his office, I heard him talking to someone, but he was alone when I walked inside his office seconds later."

"He's bound to be after being stuck in that prison dimension for all those years." a Witch muttered sympathetically.

"Crazy or not, he's a ruthless man with too much power," another Warlock pointed out, "you heard about what he did to Clay. He's made a six year old boy an orphan in his quest for power, Julian must be stopped."

"He's too powerful for one of us to take on alone." A Witch protested.

"Yes, but perhaps if we take him on together…" The first Warlock suggested.

"If we fail, we sentence our families to death." The second Warlock pointed out and they slumped, resigned to their fate.

Damon's house

10:07 A.M.

"So Stefan let you think you killed our niece all these years?" Luna asked as she, Alaric, and Enzo absorbed the news.

"Yep," Damon said as he held his daughter in his arms cherishingly, "I understand why he kept it from me when I had no humanity, I was a monster, but he's had three years to tell me and he didn't."

"You're better off without him." Enzo shrugged.

"Am I the only one concerned that Julian wants to risk the extinction of two species and kill a baby for power?" Alaric said sarcastically.

"No, but Julian's not gonna find out where my daughter is before I have a chance to kill him." Damon smirked he held his daughter protectively.

Before they could discuss it further, the Vampires heard the roar of two cars. The undead creatures stood up and walked towards the front door and walked onto the front porch. Two cars pulled into the drive way, one behind the other before they pulled to a stop. Brooke, Elena, Jeremy, and Bonnie all got out of the car before Brooke ran over to them and pulled Peyton into a bone crushing hug.

"B. Davis!" Peyton laughed.

"We have fifteen years of hugging to make up on, P. Sawyer." Brooke insisted refusing to let go of the blonde.

Everyone laughed at the scene the sound of a car door slamming echoed throughout out the area. They turned to see Caroline sprinting away from the car before it made a U-turn and drove away. Caroline had her face turned down ward with her hair covering her face so they couldn't see her expression. Frowning, Damon all but shoved his daughter into Alaric's arms before striding over Caroline. Damon used his left hand to lift her head up by her chin while he uses right to brush her blonde curls out of her face o reveal he tear-stained expression. With a growl of anger, Damon drops his hands to his sides before stalking past her menacingly before blurring out of site.

"Well this should be good." Enzo mentioned casually which broke the tense atmosphere as Luna burst out laughing and Caroline let a smile grace her face.

Stefan had not made it far before Damon was in front of the car, pinning it place with one hand. Stefan takes one look at the pissed off expression on his older brothers and knows this won't end well. Stefan has barely thought this when his door is wrenched open and Damon throws him from the car a few feet away on the ground. Stefan sat up and looked over as Damon stalked over like a predator.

"What the hell is your problem?" Damon demanded.

"You died Damon, you can't expect me just be okay with that." Stefan snapped.

"I didn't, but you know what I don't get: why you turned your back on your friends, why you decided to just live a lie, and I sure as hell don't understand why you lied to everyone for two months," Damon snarled enraged, "you have a girl over there crying over you and I don't see a person worth crying over. I don't see a trace of my brother when I look at you, I see a coward, a liar, a hypocrite. You're supposed to be the good brother, yet you've managed to turn everyone against you. I once promised you an eternity of misery; well I'm making you a new promise now: until you get your act together, I will make your life a literal hell on earth. Every time you try and run away from your problems by starting over in a life that nothing but a lie, I will show up and tear everything you've come to care about away you, I will make you hurt, I'll make you pay. I am my father's son after all."

Damon then blurred over to Stefan and snapped his neck. Damon eyed his brother's temporarily dead form disdainfully before turning back and walking towards his house.

**Sorry that it's so short, I will try and make the next chapter longer. Please give me some feedback! Happy new year everyone! **


	9. Eternal enemies

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Luna and Anna-Marie.**

Savannah, September 17th

6:32 A.M.

Stefan lined up with his co-workers, feeling a mix of irritation and curiosity. His boss, Dean, had requested that everyone come in early today early for a special announcement. As Dean walk out in front of his assembled workers, Stefan fought to keep the scowl off his face as he looked at his crooked boss with what he hoped was a curious expression.

"Now, as some of you may know, we have been experiencing some financial difficulty, forcing me to put the business up for sale," Dean announced ignoring some of the muttering, "so now, without further ado, meet your, and my, new boss: Mr. Damon Salvatore!"

Stefan nearly broke his neck as he whipped his head around to see his brother walking into the auto shop. Damon smirked in a way that let Stefan know that Damon was very aware of his brother's reaction and was amused by it. Damon walked up to Dean, clapping a hand on his shoulder before stepping in front him in order to address his new employees.

"Hello everyone, I'm just here to tell you that nothing is going to change: no one is getting fired, the business is going to go on just like it had before I became your boss. Dean will be your day job boss, I'll just be the behind the scenes man. If anyone has a problem, my number is on this card," Damon said as he handed everyone but Stefan a business card, "and in case any of you were wondering, Stefan here is my little brother and he won't be getting any special treatment. Now everyone, get to work!"

His employees scattering in fear, Damon made his way out of the garage, chuckling as went. Damon anticipated his brother's next move and wasn't surprised to hear his brother stomp after him. Stopping just as he reached his car, Damon turned around and smiled pleasantly at the seething Stefan.

"Anything I can help you with Stef?" Damon asked innocently.

"What's your game Damon?" Stefan demanded.

"Why Stefan whatever do you mean?" Damon asked mock-innocence.

"Why are you here Damon?" Stefan asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, last week I promised I'd make your life an eternal living until you got your act together and buying your place of work and compelling your boss to report all your activities back to me seemed like a good place to start." Damon shrugged nonchalantly.

"Why are you doing this?" Stefan demanded.

"Well A: you gave up on searching for me and Bonnie after all of two months and lied to everyone about it for another two months B: you let me believe I had killed our unborn niece for eighteen years. And C: you hurt Caroline." Damon listed growing more and more pissed as he talked.

"Since when are the two of you best friends?" Stefan asked curiously.

"Since you screwed us both over while I was gone. You see, I've protected you your entire life. From our father, from Klaus, even from yourself, well I'm done coddling you. It's time you learned that your actions have consequences; you need stop running from your problem. Even if you do, there is no place on this earth that you can run where I won't find you. I'm not one who screwed up, neither is Caroline, this one is all on you." Damon told him before he hopped in his car and drove off.

Damon's house

1:09 P.M.

Peyton was on the front porch in a rocking chair, gently rocking back and forth as he held her sleeping daughter. Smiling at her daughter's peaceful expression, Peyton looked up as she heard someone beginning to walk up the porch steps. Peyton smiled at Elena as the Vampire approached; despite their awkward love triangle they were in Peyton found she genuinely liked the young woman. If they weren't in love with the same man, the two of them might have even been friends.

"Hey, looking for Damon? He went to Savannah to 'run some errands?'" Peyton smiled at the vague term.

"Meaning he went to torment Stefan." Elena rolled her eyes fondly.

"Can't say he doesn't deserve it." Peyton shrugged.

"So how are you doing?" Elena asked curiously compassion and concern shinning in her eyes.

"Well, my father and some of best friends are currently in hiding from my crazy Warlock ex-boyfriend who wants to sacrifice my daughter in a crazy ass ritual and my husband is in love with another woman. I'm great Elena." Peyton said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry." Elena said feeling guilt for her part in Peyton's misery.

"Don't be, I don't blame you and I don't blame Damon either. For me it was only eight months, but for him it was fifteen years, so he moved on. It's not his fault and isn't yours, its Julian's… remember that when he chooses you." Peyton said softly.

"What?" Elena asked sure she misheard the blonde.

"I see the way he looks at you, the way his eyes light up when you enter the room, the way they follow you, the way he hangs on your every word as you talk. It's the same things he used to do with me that he doesn't any longer. When all this and he looks in his heart to see which one of us is there, I know it's gonna be you he sees and not me." Peyton said sounding slightly bitter.

"I would like nothing than for him to choose me, but what makes you think he'll choose me in comparison to you, the one woman he loved that always chose him." Elena finally confessed what had been gnawing at her since she learned that Peyton was alive.

"Could you hold Anna-Marie for a second?" Peyton suddenly asked out of the blue.

Confused by the sudden change in subject, Elena nodded wordlessly. Peyton stood up and handed her sleeping daughter to Elena before walking inside the house for a moment. Elena listen confused as Peyton grabbed something and walked back outside. When she came back, Elena noticed that Peyton was holding a large stack of papers that was bound like a book.

"The night we got here, Damon stayed up all night writing this from memory," Peyton explained as she walked over to the confused Elena, "it's a book he wrote while he and Bonnie were trapped in Julian's loophole dimension."

"So?" Elena asked not getting it.

"It's about you, or more specifically, his life without you. It's about longing and love…it's why he will choose you." Peyton said a hint of sadness entering her voice.

Gently, Peyton handed the bound paper to Elena as she took back the sleeping baby. Elena glanced down at the paper. _ The comet_ it read.

The heard the roar of an engine and both turned to see a car being driven by Damon pull up to the house. Elena just looks at the car curiously but Peyton lights up upon seeing the car. Elena looks over at the other woman as Peyton let out a delighted laugh. Peyton ran down the porch stairs and towards the car as Damon slammed the driver's door shut.

"You found the comet?!" Peyton exclaimed causing Anna-Marie to wake up and look at her parents in curious innocence.

"I never lost it. After Julian sent you through the time portal, I didn't have to get rid of it so I put in a storage locker I bought in Savannah. I took a flight out there this morning and picked up on my way to see Stefan." Damon explained before Peyton all but shoved their daughter into his arms.

"I'm gonna go get the car seat, guess what Anna, Momma's gonna take you for a ride in the Comet!" Peyton gushed to her daughter before sprinting back towards the house with an uncharacteristic squeal.

"She seems happy." Elena mentioned dryly as she approached.

"This was her car when we met, she was very possessive of it, kind of like me…man I miss my Comoro," Damon said wistfully before catching site of what Elena was holding, "how'd you get that?"

"Oh, um, Peyton gave it to me; she thought I'd like to read it before you published it. I hope that's okay." Elena lied.

"Sure, it's fine," Damon said uneasily, "So are Luna and Brooke home?"

"No, it was just Peyton and your daughter when I got here." Elena said.

Whitmore College

1:15 P.M.

As Alaric's students filled out of his classroom, Alaric shuffled his papers as he packed up. Hearing the clicking of high heels, Alaric looked up to see Brooke walk into his classroom. Smiling, Alaric put the rest of his papers in his brief case before he walked towards her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Alaric asked pleasantly.

"Oh, I knew your last class today ended now so I thought I'd stop by." Brooke said brightly.

"How'd you know that?" Alaric asked bewildered.

"I asked Elena for your schedule, anyway, what are you doing tonight?" Brooke asked directly.

"Well, I was going over to your house to spend time with my goddaughter and my best friend who I haven't spent any time with in over a year." Alaric told her confused.

"Wrong, you're going out with me tonight to the Pasta House two miles from Whitmore, pick me up at seven." Brooke said before turning around and leaving.

"Wait, what?" Alaric said not sure what just happened.

Dinner near Whitmore

1:18 P.M.

"So when are we going to Damon about us?" Enzo asked as the pair stepped out of the Diner.

"I don't know I rather like having a boyfriend that Damon doesn't want to kill." Luna said seductively as she pulled Enzo in for a passionate kiss.

"As hot as the secrecy is, Damon is my best friend and I hate lying to him gorgeous, even by a lie of omission." Enzo said as he pulled away.

"Well tell him soon, I just need to find the right way," Luna said as she patted Enzo's cheek, "now I need to go, I promised Caroline I'd help her find a dress for Peyton's baby shower."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to have a baby shower before you have the baby?" Enzo said amused.

"Well we didn't have the chance so we're doing it next week." Luna said brightly before she sprinted around the corner.

Almost the moment after she rounded the corner, she felt the agonizing pain in her head that only a Witch could cause. She fell to her knees grabbing her head as Julian stepped out from behind the shadows.

Damon's house

3:18 P.M.

Damon was in the Kitchen making dinner while Peyton and Elena sat at the table playing with a giggling Anna-Marie. Brooke walked into the kitchen carrying shopping bags humming 'Love story' by Taylor Swift.

"Good day?" Peyton asked smiling.

"Can't make it to dinner tonight, I have a date with a certain Original/teacher." Brooke said brightly.

"You have a date with Ric?" Elena asked surprised.

"When Brooke Davis wants something, she gets it." Damon chuckled.

Damon's cellphone rang as the women began discussing the upcoming date between Alaric and Brooke. Damon dug through his pocket and pulled it out and answered the familiar number.

"Something I can help you with Blondie?" Damon asked.

"Is Luna there, she was supposed to help me pick out a dress for the baby shower but never showed up?" Caroline asked him confused.

"Last time I saw her was this morning when she drove me to the airport," Damon asked before he heard someone calling his cell, "someone's on the other line, hang on a second. Hello?"

"Hello Damon." The voice on the other end of the line made Damon's blood run cold.

"Julian." Damon growled causing the three women to turn their attention to him.

"Tell me, if you had to choose between your sister and your daughter, who would you pick?" Julian taunted him.

"I swear if you touch her, I will make your last death seem like a picnic." Damon growled as all the ways he could torture Julian ran through his mind.

"Luna is unharmed…for now. Whether she remains that way is up to you: you have until seven o'clock to deliver your daughter to me or else I will drive Luna across the anti-magic border in Mystic Falls." Julian delivered before he hung up.

Growling, Damon shoved his phone into his pocket before dropping what he was doing and turning to the women. Elena stood up, having have heard everything while Brooke and Peyton, not having Vampire hearing, were confused.

"Julian has Luna. Elena, call the others, Brooke, come on. Peyton, we can't leave you and the baby unprotected, you're coming to." Damon ordered as he led them out of the room.

The group had made to the door only to pause when Damon opened the door. Stefan stood on the front porch, his hand raised as if to knock. Stefan blinked as he lowered his hand to his side.

"What are you doing here Stefan?" Damon demanded impatiently.

"I was coming to apologize for…everything." Stefan admitted shame filling his voice.

"Well you can start by helping me save our sister." Damon said as he brushed passed his stunned brother.

"What happened to Luna?" Stefan demanded as he followed his older brother.

"I'll explain when we meet up with everyone else." Damon barked in a tone that left no argument.

Unspecified location

3:21 P.M.

Luna groaned as she came to and she took in her surroundings. She was suspended above the ground by ropes tied around her arms, Vervained judging by the burning sensation in her wrists, in a modest room empty of almost everything. A whimper echoed throughout the room and Luna quickly located the source: a young child of about five was huddled in corner, his eyes wide and terrified. The broken, terrified look in his eyes reminded Luna of Damon after his father would beat him.

"Hi, what's your name sweetie?" Luna asked him in the most soothing voice she could manage.

"Logan." The young boy sniffed as he brushed his bright blonde hair out of his blue eyes.

"Hi Logan, I'm Luna," She managed what she hopped was a reassuring smile, "do you know where we are Logan?"

"Julian took me to this house and left me alone, and then he came back and tied you up before he left again." Logan explained quietly.

"So we're here alone?" Luna asked shocked again at Julian's apathy for this child.

"No, there are some bad mans outside." Logan explained as he gestured out the window.

"Men," Luna corrected as she glanced at Logan and noted that he didn't appear to have been well cared for, "how long have you known Julian?"

"Since I was four, he had some bad mans-men-take me so my daddy would work for him." Logan explained.

"What's your daddy's name?" Luna asked with a sense of foreboding.

"Clay." Logan confirmed Luna's suspicions.

Whitmore College, Alaric's classroom

3:49 P.M.

Damon stalked back and forth as Peyton clutched their daughter to her as though afraid she would disappear. Elena, Brooke, Bonnie, and Caroline watches the family concerned as Stefan watches, feeling like an outsider in his own family. Alaric sat at his desk, frowning in concentration and Enzo leans against the chalk board moodily as Tyler, Liv, and Luke watch the pacing Vampire stop and turn to them with an unreadable expression.

"So what's the deal with this Anti-Magic barrier?" Brooke asked everyone.

"Well, a tribe of Travelers plus two Vampires worth of Doppelganger blood, and it creates a spell that stripes away all magic, including Vampirism," Damon explained as he ran a hand through his hair, "when Julian takes her into Mystic falls, Luna will just be a girl with a broken neck."

"Then how do we bloody stop him?" Enzo growled in a surprisingly emotional voice.

"Well, we're all four Witches in the room," Damon explained as he glanced at Brooke, Bonnie, Luke, and Liv, "Brooke, Julian's probably blocking us from finding Luna, I need you to block him. Bonnie, you work on a Locater spell for Luna, Blond and Blonder; I need you to locate Julian so that I can kill him…again."

"Who put you in charge?" Tyler asked which caused almost everyone looked at him like he was insane.

"The fact that this guy is my Arch-Nemesis who kidnapped my sister, send my wife through a time portal, and is willing to kill my daughter, risking the mass extinction of Vampires and Witches, all for a little power. Any other stupid questions, guy who wasn't invited?" Damon growled.

"You'll have to forgive Tyler; he doesn't always think when he talks." Caroline said causing the Werewolf to shoot her a betrayed look.

"Well what are you waiting for people, get to work?!" Damon barked.

Near Luna's location

5:29 P.M.

Stefan and Enzo hid behind a shed as the peered around it to look at what they were up against. There were five Warlocks guarding the house with who knows how many more inside. For them, it should be no problem to out the Warlocks. The two Vampires glanced at each other and nodded.

The Warlocks were standing guard when suddenly a large piece of wood suddenly plunged through one's heart. As he fell to the ground dead, Enzo and Stefan blurred over and snapped two of the remaining Warlocks necks. Stefan then ripped out the heart of another while Enzo lifted the last Warlock by his neck in a tight grip, nearly choking him.

"I'm going to ask you some question and if I even feel a tingle coming from my head, I'll kill you, understand mate?" Enzo asked and got a nod, "good, are there anymore Warlock or Witches in the house?"

"No, just Luna and the boy." the Warlock gasped out.

"What boy?" Stefan asked curiously.

"Clay Evan's son." The Warlock explained.

"That's the information Mate." Enzo said before snapping his neck.

"Enzo!" Stefan exclaimed as Enzo dropped the body to the ground.

"He was the enemy; he'd have done the same thing to us in a heartbeat given the chance." Enzo said unapologetic as he walked towards the house.

"No wonder Damon was the way he was when he was under your dangerous influence." Stefan muttered.

"Nothing is more dangerous to Damon than your mere presence." Enzo muttered darkly.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan demanded as they walked into the house.

"So Damon and Luna haven't told you, not very surprising," Enzo muttered as he looked around, "Luna?!"

"Enzo!"

Hearing the voice, the two Vampires quickly followed it to its source and bursts open the door. Luna was hanging from the ceiling by ropes and there was a boy, obviously Clay's son, huddling in the corner terrified. Enzo rushed over and untied her, almost unaffected by the burns as he took her in his arms as Stefan realized that his sister and Enzo were together.

Mystic Falls town Line.

"I knew you'd show up," Julian said as he turned around to face Damon who was flanked by Elena and Caroline, "I see you brought some friends."

"Why are you doing this Julian? Why go through all this trouble just to see me suffer?" Damon demanded.

"Because it is my destiny." Julian said ominously

"What are you talking about?" Caroline demanded bewildered.

"Well you see Caroline; some men believe you are defined by your friends and family, but they're wrong. Instead, we are defined by our enemies. Damon, you and I will be remembered for centuries for our battles. We will not be remembered by our family or romances, but as eternal enemies." Julian explained to the three Vampires.

"You're even more insane than I thought." Damon said to which Julian only laughed.

"Am I? Face it Damon, you and I are distorted reflections of each other: we both hate passionately, we're both determined, and we're both willing to do anything to reach our goals." Julian listed.

"I admit that you do remind me of myself," Damon confessed causing Elena and Caroline to look at him stunned, "I know what's it like to hate someone so much that the hatred consumes everything else. I also know what's like to be so consumed by that hate that you don't even see the real danger."

Julian's expression changes to confusion before a sound similar to thunder echoes throughout the area. Blood splatters from the back of Julian's head as he falls to the ground. Liz Forbes approaches from the border as Damon stares at his enemy's corpse with cold eyes as Elena looked over at him concerned.

"It's over." Damon determined a blank tone.

Whitmore College medical center

6:17 P.M.

Luna, Enzo, and Stefan stood back as the Doctor, a woman named Jo, treated Logan. Logan, while he had not been treated that roughly, he was not treated with care and slightly under weight and malnourished. Luna had already cleared it with Damon so that Logan could come home with them. Peyton had already prepared a room for him.

"Okay, it looks like the little guy will be okay; just make sure he gets some food in him." Jo told them before she stood up and walked out of the room.

"Luna, can I talk to you for a minute?" Stefan asked her.

"You and I don't anything more to say to each other." Luna as she walked over to Logan.

"Considering you're not telling me something that makes Enzo think that I'm enemy number one to Damon's health, I think we do." Stefan said causing Luna to tense.

"Enzo." Luna hissed at her boyfriend.

"Sorry sweetheart, every word that comes out of his mouth seems to make me angry." Enzo shrugged.

"Logan, sweetie, my boyfriend is gonna take you out to the hall for a minute while I talk to Stefan a minute, okay?" Luna told the young boy in a nurturing tone.

"You'll be right out?" Logan asked her in a vulnerable voice.

"Of course I will." Luna promised as she kissed him on the forehead.

Enzo walked over and led the boy out of the room as he held his hand. Logan glanced over his shoulder as the door shut behind him. Luna stood up and faced her youngest brother.

"What's going on Luna?" Stefan demanded.

"In the prophecy of light and Darkness, there's a male figure with a connection to the creature of darkness." Luna explained.

"A connection as in?" Stefan asked confused.

"Over the centuries, the interpretation has varied: half the time it's a brother, half the time it's a comrade. This male figure is supposed to betray Damon in a betrayal that trumps all other betrayals." Luna explained to him.

"You think it's talking about me?" Stefan finally caught on.

"Well it's not like you have the best track record for having Damon's back." Luna pointed out haughtily.

"I know I should've tried harder to find a way to bring him back and I should've told him about Sarah, okay Luna?" Stefan told her anger in his voice.

"Well how about when you forced him to turn into a Vampire, or when you refused to believe that Damon was missing in the 50's? Or how about in 1881 when we showed up on your doorstep to make amends and you slammed the door in our faces huh?!" Luna shouted at him.

"Luna…" Stefan trailed off knowing she was right.

"You think of yourself as this Vampire Jesus and Damon is your Vampire Judas…but the way I see it, you are the Judas of Damon's story and he is so much better off without having to look over his shoulder wondering when you're going to stab him in the back next." Luna spat at him as she walked passed him.

Elena's dorm room

6:31 P.M.

_It was more than a comet because of what it brought to his life: direction, beauty, meaning. There were many who couldn't understand, and at times he walked among them. But even in his darkest hours, he knew in his heart that someday it would return to him, and his world would be whole again...and his belief in God and love and art would be reawakened in his heart._

Tears running down her face, Elena closed the book and set it on her bed side table. Wiping her tears, Elena turned out the light and went to bed with a renewed hope for her relationship with Damon Salvatore.

**Spoilers for next chapter: a chapter full of non-romantic Daroline bonding, a surprising link between the Salvatore and Davis families is revealed, and Damon makes his choice between Peyton and Elena.**

**Please review, give me some feedback please.**


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